If I never met you
by Liloexp626
Summary: After Stitch travels back to the past to save Lilo's parents, his memories start to erase slowly, making him forget everything about Ohana and turning him bad again. Now Lilo must fix it before is too late... before Stitch forgets everything forever.
1. Nightmares from past

Okay, I'm finally done with the first chapter! I'm not really proud of this... I just wrote for this what I think Lilo's family was like before her parents died and the happens of that awful night. The action doesn't really start here, but I felt I needed to explain at least some of how Lilo felt and still feels about her parents.

Oh, just one thing: I know I have started my stories with 'Stitch and Angel broke up because...' but in this fic I will start with them as boojibus. I will make them STARTING as boojibus, but at the end this will be a L&S coupling fic... I just wanted to show how the girl and the alien began to fall in love gradually.

Well, that's all by now, I guess... enjoy !

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**If I never met you**

_Chapter 1_

_N__ightmares from past_

"_Okay, girls. It's time to go to your beds now."_

_The little needle was placed apart from the black disc, spinning upon the record player. Immediately, the King's voice stopped singing and then all the music and noise went away._

"_Awww, but daddy, it's too early yet. Can't we stay awake for longer?"_

_A little Hawaiian girl with raven, silky hair (you must know her very well) looked up at the man who had stopped all their fun. Her big brown eyes glistened with the innocence of a five-year-old girl trying to persuade her parents to let her sister and her to have a bit more of fun. _

_Beside her was another girl, older than __she, maybe eighteen. She looked at her dad too, as if pleading for some more minutes._

"_Lilo's right, dad. You're going to dance all night. Anniversary stuff, I know... but why can't we have a bit of fun too?"_

_The man smiled as__ he glanced at his two girls. They were so much like their mom… both of them had got her chocolate brown eyes. Nani reminded him a lot of Lani Pelekai, her mom: she was her picture of when she had been younger, with her locks of wavy hair and those huge eyes._

_Lilo would have been too, if it weren't because her__ ebony hair was straight, just like his. He shook his head and chuckled a bit. It seemed that Lilo had got her mom's gift of persuading people to do anything with only a glance, but after a long time he had learned how to resist the urge of doing what he was being urged to do._

"_Sorry girls, but you're still too young to stay awake until midnight."_

"_What do you mean 'too young'? I'm eighteen, dad! I'm not a little girl anymore." Nani crossed her arms angrily. Lilo looked up at her and smiled:_

"_Yeah, she's big now, that's why she's got a boyfriend now."_

"_Lilo!" __Nani covered her mouth quickly, but then she felt her hand wet with something gooey and felt something warm and slippery in her hand._

"_Ewww, Lilo, that's gross!" S__he shrieked as the drool dripped from her hand. Lilo just smiled at the sight of her sister trying to clean the drool off her hand. That one never failed._

"_If David is not your boyfriend, then what's him to you? Only a 'very loving' friend?" She mocked, while their dad just watched both of them with a fake frown and a huge smile on his face._

"_That's right! He's only a good friend!" __Nani blushed as she thought of David. Lilo saw her sister's blushed cheeks and got a new idea._

"_Look… this is Nani-" She said as she lifted one hand "-and this is David" S__he concluded as she lifted her other hand, then put them together as she made annoying kissing noises._

"_That's all… you asked for it!" __Nani yelled as she approached Lilo dangerously, a frown on her face and a pillow in hand. Lilo screamed and Nani threw the pillow at her, but luckily it didn't hit her. Some seconds later, Nani was running around the whole house trying to catch her little sister, both of them shouting and screaming, one sister with fright and the other sister with anger._

"_Kale! W__assup out there?" A voice came from the corridor. Both girls stopped when they heard their mom's voice, and then all of them turned their heads to see the beautiful woman standing there in the corridor. _

_She was wearing a not too elegant, but__ still beautiful red dress with no sleeves. A tight silver girdle was wrapping her waist and remarking her well-formed shape. Some shiny sparkles outlined the edges of the dress and the lower part of it, reaching just below her knees. A silver tiara adorned her head as her silky, curly black hair cascaded down her shoulders, which matched her black, comfy sandals. Even though she was not wearing pumps, the sandals didn't rest beauty to the dress nor the woman._

_When she__ noticed everyone looking at her, she walked up to them and made the question._

"_Well, do I look good?"_

"_Do you even have to ask, Ni?" Kale shook his head in a funny way, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Y__our name matches very well the way you look tonight. How 'bout that?" He said, approaching his wife and taking her into his arms as he danced with her, singing in a high, eerily voice. "You look like an angel… Walk like an angel… Talk like an angel."_

"_Well, thanks for maki__ng that point clear, honey." Lani replied with an amused smile. "This dress had a long time kept in the wardrobe. It deserved to get un-dusted, right? Do you still remember it?"_

"_How could__n't I? It's the same dress you wore when I took you to the school dance, when we were only kiddos. Whoa, all of sudden I felt so old. Anyways…" He said as he wrapped his arms around her waist and then kissed her. _

_Both sisters watched as their parents kissed. Nani looked at them dreamily, thinking of her 'very loving' friend. However, Lilo looked at them with a sickened face._

"_Ewww, now that's gross, Nani… I can stand to lick your hand, but this is real yuck!"_

"_That's no__ yuck, Lilo. Mom and Dad love each other. It's natural for them wanting to kiss."_

"_Well, they're supposed to love us too and they never kiss us that way. Why don't they do the same? Hugging isn't enough? Kissing is gross!"_

"_Lilo, you__ shut up. You'll see when you grow older. You won't think the same way about kissing then, and some day you'll find somebody special and both of you will like to kiss. You know, you gotta believe in love."_

_Lilo's eyes grew wide with disgust. "I won't EVER do THAT! What if that somebody you're talking about is actually a vampire and he tries to suck all of my blood? I don't think that would be very nice!"_

"_Lilo, honey,__ there are two points against you." Her dad said, after they had pulled away. "For one thing, you love vampires. And two: that person would never try to hurt you if he truly loves you. Or else…"_

"_Yeah, okay, I geddit. We better go to bed. Isn't it late already?" Lilo said, trying to change the subject and walking away, but Nani took her by her wrist and stopped her. She cleared her throat, maybe way too obviously._

_Lilo's eyes opened wide in realization. "Oooh, right… I had forgotten it."_

"_What?" __Lani asked as she looked at them with curiosity._

"_Oh, it's nothing, mom… really..." Nani replied, blinking at Lilo. The smaller girl understood quickly and then ran somewhere else. After some minutes, Lilo came back with two little boxes that seemed to be gifts._

"_Okay, this one is mine! You don't have to thank me!" __Lilo shouted as she grabbed the little cardboard box and gave it to her dad. "I know just how much you two like Elvis, so I got this for you. Open it!"_

_Kale__ took the little box and then opened it. Then he took out some kind of potato and showed it to his wife. Both smiled._

"_Oh, hey, look at this! It's an Elvis-shaped potato!" The man looked at it with surprise. It would have been hard to tell what the potato was shaped like if Lilo hadn't said it before. The thing looked as if its belly was too big and its limbs too short, but it was still nice._

"_I know… I'm sorry I couldn't get something better, but I didn't have money."_

"_It doesn't matter, Lilo… we love it! You cannot find always a potato with the shape of the King." Her mom said as she bent down to kiss Lilo's head. The girl was beaming._

"_Well, my turn now." __Nani said as she handed her mom her gift. Lani took the little box. She opened it and took out a little mirror with a polished wood frame; some Hawaiian designs were carved on it._

"_Oh, Na__ni… it's beautiful. Did you carve it?" She said as she took it in her hands tenderly._

"_Um, yeah… n__o prob, mom… it's the least you deserve."_

"_Well, I don't want to cut in__, but if there isn't any other surprise…" Kale said as he watched his watch._

"_Okay, we gotta go__, girls. Please be good and go to bed now." Lani said as she hugged her daughters._

"_Aloha!" B__oth girls shouted as they watched their parents opening the door to leave. They had just opened the door when they felt the cool wind on their faces and saw the little drops of rain falling hard outside. They had been so busy with their daughters that they didn't even hear when the rain started to fall down._

"_Holy cow,__ I guess we'll have to take out an umbrella and a coat for you, honey." Kale went in to take out the needed items. A lightning crossed the skies and then a thunder crashed against earth, making the whole ground tremble. _

"_Hum, mom… those thunders are kinda scary__... can you sing something for me so I can sleep?" Lilo begged as she grabbed a grip of her mom's dress. Her mom sighed._

"_Okay… go your room and get your pajamas on. Be right there."_

_Lilo nodded and then rushed to her room. Nani was standing there, thinking she didn't really need to get some sleep._

"_Nani, you put your pajamas on too."__ Lani said._

"_Awwe__, mom! I don't want to get into bed yet… I'm not even sleepy!"_

"_Well, that might be true, but I don't want you__ watching TV or listening to the record player 'til two in the morning while Lilo's sleepin'. You're s'pposed to be a model-sister, and you gotta teach her good, you know?"_

"_Okay, okay, I'm already there." Nani huffed as she started walking towards the room she shared with Lilo. When they entered, Lilo was already lying down on her bed under her blanket. Nani climbed up to the upper bed and then she laid down too, waiting for her mom to do something._

"_Okay girls,__ you ready now?"_

_Both girls nodded._

"_Sing__ a lullaby for us, mom." Lilo asked. Her mom strived for some seconds to remember one, and then she started to sing: _

"_When storm clouds grow_

_And I feel blue_

_Your song comes drifting on the trim winds _

_Your bright smile shines like sun on sand_

_And I will dream again"_

_Lani sang the lullaby a few times more. When she__ looked up at Nani after the fiftieth time, she was already asleep. She chuckled; Nani would always try to act like a grown up, but she was still a baby to her. Then she looked at Lilo. Her eyelids were closed, but she wasn't asleep at all, so she sang the lullaby once more. After she was done, she looked again at Lilo and knew that she was asleep. She caressed her forehead tenderly and took away from her face two locks of her raven hair._

"_Those two are__ still your babies, right?"_

_Lani turned her head to look at her husband, who was standing at the entrance of the room:_

"_I can't help to feel that way. Even when they fall in love, get married and have children, they will be still my babies. But well, did I hear something about going to watch a movie and having dinner or something?" She said beaming._

"_You certainly did. Your coat__ and an umbrella are awaiting for you, my lady, so can we leave now?"_

_Lani stood up and then the couple walked out the room, leaving the girls alone._

_Lilo opened her eyes. _

_She tried to go back to sleep, but she felt she couldn't get any more sleep. She sat up on her bed, wondering why she couldn't just fall asleep again, and then she realized that Scrump wasn't with her. _

_She ju__mped out of her bed, being careful with not waking up her snoring sister. She walked downstairs and went to the living room, looking for her doll. Then she saw it upon the little table._

_She rushed to take the doll, but she didn't see her mom's mirror lying on the same table. There was just a gasp and the sound of glass getting shattered. _

_She looked down at the pieces of the glistening glass__, several faces staring back at her. It was her mom's mirror, but that wasn't her biggest problem. She had heard that when you break a mirror, it meant that you were going to have bad luck… or at least that was what she had heard from one of her classmates. Then she remembered too that when she had told Nani about it, she said that it was just a superstition and that she shouldn't pay too much attention to it. _

_She__ hugged Scrump and just shrugged as she walked back to her room. Maybe Nani was right…_

_Meanwhile, in the little town, a coupl__e went out of a little theater. Both of them were laughing about some joke, and as they talked of how much they had enjoyed their night, they went into the car, eager to go back home._

"_Whoa, look what time is it now! 1:34 a.m. Sheesh, no more fun tonight. I'm already too tired." Kale pointed as he looked at his watch. _

"_L__ong night, huh? Well, I had a lotta fun. What about you?"_

"_Me too. But n__ow we gotta go back home and get to be parents again until next year."_

_Lani chuckled as she thought of their night. They had had a lot of fun, just like when they had been younger. She was still wandering in her thoughts when Kale took her out of her thoughts._

"_Ow, t__his road got horrible… it always gets like this when it's rainy."_

"_Y__ou wanted to get home faster, didn't you?"_

"_Yah, I'm drowsy now… I just wanna get into bed and drift to Slumber-land."_

"_Kale, please slow down the speed. We're going too fast."_

"_Don't worry, Lani. I know this road just as the palm of my hand."_

"_You want me to drive? You'd get some sleep while we get home."_

"_No, honey, I'm okay… thanks."_

"_Okay…" Lani replied, though she still felt a bit nervous._

_Kale was getting drowsier, and the fact that he wasn't completely concentrated in the road wasn't something really good. His eyelids felt heavier every next second, and for some seconds he closed them, drifting momentarily to Slumber-land._

"_KALE, LOOK OUT!"_

_Lani's cry made him awoken. Right ahead was a curve, and he was precipitating dangerously to it. He pushed the brake pedal, thinking that this would be enough to stop the car, and in fact it would have been enough if it hadn't been for the wet ground and the sheet of water ahead. The brake was useless, and with the speed they had been traveling at, the tires slipped across the sheet of water and the car went literally flying away from the road, finally crashing against a palm tree. _

_The sun was entering n__ow the room, and Lilo woke up when she felt the first sunbeams colliding against her baby tan skin. However, what had actually got her awake was the noise coming from downstairs. It sounded like somebody was singing out of tune, probably her dad if that was the case… or maybe somebody was crying._

_Curious, she got out of__ her bed and looked at the upper bed. It was empty, and she knew that the one who was making the noise should be Nani or maybe her parents, playing some jokes. When she got closer, she noticed that it wasn't a joyful noise. It was the sound of somebody crying and weeping. Once she got into the kitchen, she could see Nani sitting at the table, her hands to her face and her whole body shaking._

"_Nani? Are you okay?"_

_Nani looked up suddenly, scared when she heard Lilo's voice. There was her little sister. "How will she take it…?" she thought as she bit her lower lip with fear, but after some seconds she could gather enough courage and then just nodded._

"_Yeah, I'm okay Lilo."_

"_Uh, okay… if you say so…" __Lilo rolled her eyes, thinking that maybe Nani was crying over something silly, like last night's soap opera. "Hey, where are mom and dad?"_

_This time, Nani couldn't hold the tears hidden anymore and she began crying again. Lilo couldn't fully understand what was going on, but when she saw her sister's reacting like that, she couldn't help feeling a knot forming in her stomach. Something about this didn't feel anything okay at all…_

_Nani just beckoned__ Lilo to follow her to the living room, and then she turned the TV on._

"_Nani, you already know I hate to watch the morning news." Lilo complained as the device showed the principal news of that day. "Besides, I'm gonna be late for-"_

_Lilo stopped talking when one new took her full attention. She sat down beside Nani on the couch and watched the news._

Due to the recent rains in the island of Kauai, two persons suffered a car accident, about two miles away from the southern part of Kokaua town. By their IDs, they were identified as Kale and Lani Pelekai, both natives of Kauai._ Click!_

_Despite the terrible feeling that had se__ttled down on her guts, Lilo still couldn't get any of this; perhaps it was just her short age which didn't allow her to understand everything at all, but still, she felt tense, like she could guess something had gone very wrong._

_Nani could see this too once she looked into her sister's confused eyes. Sighing heavily, she simply stared at the floor as she made her explanation._

"_The police called at three o' clock in the morning today to tell me about them… they said they died instantly. They told me where we could go to find their bodies so we can bury them…"_

_The little girl__ stood up and ran outside as fast as she could. Nani called her name out loud, but when she went outside, Lilo was gone. _

_She ran through the giant ferns and the abundant vegetation, making her way to the __core of the forest. Finally, she stopped near a palm tree, trying to catch her breath back. _

_W__hat she had just heard from Nani and the TV news was trying to fit somewhere in her head, but the fact that her parents were gone forever… well, it was just beyond her grasp to understand it. How could this have happened? Her parents were the only comfort she got whenever her classmates called her names or told her she was weird. They always had something to comfort her. What would happen now? Who would be there for her now, to comfort her just like her parents did? What was going to happen now that they were gone?_

_Her fists clenched. Once again, her age didn't allow her to think of all of the wonderful things her parents would miss, like her graduation day, her wedding, her firstborn and such; but there was something she knew for sure: there would be no more mommy or daddy to kiss her goodnight every night. No more loving hugs or games, or jokes, or anything that made her life entirely bright. It would be just her sister and her. _

_She felt terribly alone._

_Under her fingers was something that felt soft and warm. She looked down at her hands and realized that she hadn't let go of Scrump even after she ran away with her pajamas still on. She took her doll and hugged it tightly, imagining it was her parents. Menacing tears wanted to rush out of her eyes already._

_Not even five minutes later, Scrump was already completely soaked._

_The next morning, everything was settled for the funeral. Lilo had already seen the coffins, but she didn't want__ to go near them. She was afraid of what she would see inside them: not a warm smile or a loving glance, only a cold, pale face staring back at her. It gave her shivers._

_All the people who had known her parents had gone to the funeral: that's to say almost the whole town was present. There were people Lilo knew, as well as people she had never seen before, mostly because those were old classmates of her parents. _

_The minister__ was about to finish his speech. Finally, the long speech came to its end, and then the moment of the farewells came. Nani was beside her, about to look for last time at the faces of her dead parents, but then noticed that Lilo wasn't even trying to approach the coffins._

"_Lilo, baby…" she began, bending__ down at the level of her sister. "Why don't you come with me to say bye?"_

"_Because I don't want to say bye…" Lilo replied as she dropped her glance to the ground. Nani hugged her tightly, trying to comfort her._

"_Lilo, this is the last time we'll see mom and dad's faces. I just want you to know this is the last opportunity we have to say goodbye, but… well, if you don't feel like saying bye, I can understand. I'll be right back."_

_Nani stood up and started to walk towards the two coffins. Lilo remained there, musing over Nani's words. She was right, this was the last time she would see them, and even if she said she didn't want to say goodbye, she needed to see them for a last time. She ran to the coffins, both of them with their lids opened. When she got there, she looked inside the first coffin. _

_There was her dad, so joyful and jovial before, and now lying there lifelessly and pale as wax. She murmured a soft bye as some tears rolled down her cheeks, and then moved to the next coffin. Inside was her mom… her dear, beloved mommy. She stood there, looking at her still face, as expecting for some miracle, waiting her to open her eyes and get out of that coffin, but nothing happened._

"_Mommy, daddy, please don't leave us. I need you. Please come back. Don't leave yet, I'll miss you so much if you do that right now… what'll happen when Myrtle calls me names again? Nani, well… it's not that she's a bad sister, it's just that it isn't the same without you. Will I be alone now? I- wouldn't like that. Please don't leave us here… can you at least take Nani and me with you?"_

Lilo's eyes opened suddenly. The sky was still dark, and when she looked aside at the clock resting on her night table she saw a glistening 3:10 am. The now sixteen-year-old girl sat up on her bed, just thinking. That same nightmare had been chasing her every night of the last three months. She passed her tan hand across her cheeks, realizing that she had been crying… again.

Then she looked at the other side of the room, trying to see if Stitch had woken up. He was lying on his cot, deeply asleep. She smiled weakly as she stared at him.

Stitch had been the reply to her prayers when she was little. He had filled that empty place that the death of her parents had left behind, and he had comforted her many times just the way they had done before. He was the best thing that could have ever happened to her after her parents died.

… But even so, it wasn't the same. She still missed them a lot. They had been a very united family, a warm, nice Ohana… just like her new Ohana was like. What could have been better? Her former family, with her parents, Nani and she, or her new Ohana, with Jumba, Pleakley, Stitch, Nani and more than six hundred of cousins?

She was better now indeed, but she still felt nostalgia of her old life. She wanted her parents back so badly, but she knew as well that you can't bring anybody back from the after-life.

"_I better go back to sleep. Tomorrow__ won't be easy at all…" _Lilo thought as she laid on her bed. She closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep, but the faces of her dead parents remained on her mind during the entire night, not allowing her to have a restful sleep. She wanted them back so badly…

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**Okay, as I said, this was just my POV of what I think Lilo's family was like. By the way, I don't know how long I will delay to update the second chapter. My dad has been fixing somethings in the computer and there are days when I cannot even approach the computer, so please have some patience with me while I try to keep writting. Thanks!**


	2. Anniversary

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 2_

_Anniversary_

The sun had already risen above the little Hawaiian paradise. The birds were flying across the high, blue morning sky, singing gorgeously, and the giant leaves of the palm trees swung lazily as the sea breeze collided against them. The waves crashed against the white sand of the seashores, and the sea was a deep light blue color. The colorful orchids opened to the morning sun as they let go of their soft scent. Everything was perfect that morning…

Lilo opened her eyes when she felt the sun beams caressing her tan face. She turned on her back to avoid the sun beams and covered her head with the blanket to bring some darkness to her eyes and fall asleep again. This wasn't a good day for her, even though the weather seemed to be perfect and everything outside was beautiful.

"Lilo, it's time to get up!"

Then nothing…

"Lilo! Get up NOW!"

Lilo moaned slightly and then covered her head with her pillow. Then a steady whirr was heard from downstairs. As the lift reached the dome, Lilo hid even more under her covers. _'I should have locked the lift'_ she thought bitterly.

A hand took apart the warm blanket from her body:

"Lilo, you know you can't stay asleep the whole day. It's not good for you, and besides it's a beautiful day outside! The weather is perfect for a Saturday morning: you could swim, run, surf… whatever you want to do!"

"What I want to do is to sleep right now. Get outta my room, Nani. I wanna sleep." Lilo mumbled groggily and then turned her back to her sister.

"Lilo, baby, please go downstairs to eat something. I don't want you to starve like that…"

"Get outta my room, Nani-saurus Rex. I 'm not hungry. I'll have breakfast when I feel like having it, not when my big-hangman-sister orders me to. Besides you're not Mom to tell me what I have to do…"

A pillow went flying against Nani, hitting her square on her face. This time she couldn't stand anymore:

"OKAY, THAT'S ALL! YOU'RE GOING DOWNSTAIRS **NOW!**"

"Ouch, that hurts!"

"Well, you should have thought that before tossing that pillow at me and saying all what you said!"

Pillows went flying across the room, as well as other yells and screams. Nani pulled Lilo by her wrist, trying to take her down, but Lilo wasn't that weak as when she was little. Now she was a strong girl, and she could easily defend herself from her sister, so the fight went steady: sometimes Nani was about to take her downstairs and sometimes Lilo was about to escape from Nani's hands. Finally, Nani gave up:

"Fine! You can spend the whole day here if you want to! I won't beg you to behave correctly as a little kid, just like mom used to do! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?"

Nani didn't even wait for an answer. She got into the lift and went downstairs, frustration and anger marked on her face. Lilo dropped herself on the floor and sat there. She hid her face between her hands, feeling frustrated as well as her sister. She didn't mean to do it, but she couldn't help to behave just like a jerk even to her sister when days like this were bothering her…

'_Nani was just trying to lighten this day for me… she knows how hard is for me and all what I did to 'thank' her was kicking her out just like trash… I'm not the only one who's been in a bad mood today. I'm sure she misses them just as much as I do, but at least she knows how to handle with it… unlike me.'_

Nani sat down on the chair tiredly and rested her cheeks on her hands. Since Lilo had turned fourteen, she had always behaved on a hard way when this day arrived: she didn't want to get up and she went downstairs to take breakfast until one o' clock, and then always went back to her room to disappear until evening, if not until next day. Why had she turned so hard? Why didn't she just take it 'easy' as when she was little?

"_Well, both ways were bad. When she was a kid, she used to sleep the whole day and didn't talk to anyone until next day… now I don't know if this is worse. I wish I knew as good as mom…"_

"Was Bigger Girl having yelling contest against Little Girl?"

Nani whirled her head. Jumba was standing in the entrance of the kitchen, rubbing away the sleep from his eyes.

"Yes, again… I don't know what to do with her." she mumbled more to herself.

"What was all that noise some minutes ago? I'd bet it woke up the whole island, if not some near moons too!" Pleakley yawned as he entered the room. Then he took a cereal box and dropped some in three plates to prepare their breakfast.

"It was Lilo… she's been a bit too rebellious these last days, and today isn't the exception. I bet she's gonna disappear the whole day in her room again."

"Ah, talking about disappearances, Jumba has not seen 626 around here either."

"Oh, please Jumba! Don't tell me that you forgot that he's been with that sweet girlfriend of his! It's their anniversary, remember?"

"But I was thinking that their anniversary would to be within two months!"

"Yeah, but I guess they like to celebrate it every month. Who knows when somebody is in love? That's just fascinating!"

"What fascinating?"

Stitch stepped in the kitchen, ready to look for something to eat. He saw the cereal box and the milk carton and didn't think it twice: he threw the milk carton into his mouth and flung some flakes of the cereal box inside as well.

"Oh great… that was the last of our milk. I gotta go get some more now." Nani said coldly as she stood up and then went outside. She didn't feel like staying home with that kind of atmosphere drifting in the house.

Everybody watched as she went out. Stitch noticed her cold tone and became slightly concerned.

"What wrong with Nani?"

Both Jumba and Pleakley shrugged:

"We don't know. Lilo isn't in a good mood either. It doesn't seem like she's coming down to have breakfast, anyway." Pleakley informed as he went to the sinker to wash some dishes.

"Eh, am going to work in some evil business. Jumba would not want to be around when human girls finally go kaput. Hah!" Jumba chuckled as he went upstairs to his room. The only sound that followed was the door shutting closed.

Stitch watched both of them as they went away to do their business. He knew he couldn't let Lilo alone. If she was behaving that way, something wasn't totally right with her.

He sighed and then walked to the lift. He pressed the button to go up, but he found that it was locked. He growled lightly and then went outside to enter the dome by the window.

Lilo was lying on her bed, listening to the King. She was still in her pajamas, but that didn't bother her. Anyway she wasn't planning to go outside today.

As she continued to listen to the record player and the King's voice, she heard a soft knock on the glass of the window and felt a cold breeze entering the room. She lifted her head from the pillow and saw the little blue furred alien entering the room. Just when she saw him she relaxed a bit and smiled lightly.

"Hey Stitch."

Stitch approached her bed and then climbed up as Lilo sat up on her bed. He approached the girl and then rested his head against his friend's lap. Lilo smiled more widely and then let her hands run through her friend's fur, enjoying the feeling of the fluffy coat that covered Stitch's body. Stitch smiled: he liked the way Lilo caressed him. It always made him feel relaxed, and he allowed his friend to play her fingers through his fur some minutes more. None said anything for a while until Stitch broke the silence.

"Lilo, what wrong? Why you sad?"

Even though he could feel Lilo becoming stiff, she didn't stop her hands from caressing his long ears. She seemed to muse about what she was going to say, and then she opened her mouth to start talking.

"It's everything. I've been getting some rotten luck lately, you know? Today I had a nightmare about the day they left us." She lowered her head sadly.

Stitch lifted his head when he didn't feel Lilo's hands caressing him anymore, and then he saw the dismal expression on Lilo's face. Then he remembered what day was today. Now everything became clear on his mind as to why she was acting this way.

"Today… anniversary parents died, ih?" He whispered cautiously as he took her hand and caressed it comfortingly.

Lilo looked down at her hand and saw Stitch's one rubbing hers. Some tears started to gather at the edge of her eyes… for some reason, his way of comforting reminded her of her mom.

"Yeah. Today was supposed to be their wedding anniversary too. We would've been festive, I guess…" she turned aside her head, like trying to keep back her tears, but no success: the little pearly drops were already running down her cheeks.

Stitch noticed the tears rolling down her cheeks and immediately sat up to hug her, trying to give some comfort. Lilo hugged him back, soaking his ocean blue fur with her tears, leaving some little moist spots on his shoulder, shaking as she cried softly. Stitch hugged her more tightly, shushing to her ears soothing words and caressing her back.

She was a teenager now, but he could almost imagine that she was turning again into a little girl in that very moment. She was again that little, defenseless girl he met first before she turned into a teenager. He missed the sensation of the little girl in his arms, because being little he could almost cradle her in his arms, but even so he felt good to comfort her at least a bit.

Finally, Lilo seemed to calm down, or at least she wasn't shaking anymore as she wept. All her feelings were encountering inside her at that moment: anger, sadness, hurt, comfort, hate, love… and over all the nostalgia of having her parents beside her. They had missed so many important events of her life… if they were alive, they could've met Stitch, Jumba, Pleakley, and all the experiments who were her friends now.

"Why, Stitch? Why did they have to leave that very night? Why didn't they stay home with us to celebrate their anniversary, and why did they have to die? They didn't deserve it! They should be alive right now, and they should have met you and all of the friends I made while I was a kid!"

Stitch was silent. He didn't know what to respond to those questions. How could he know why fate had been that way, and not as Lilo would have wanted it to be? Some things about life are a mystery, and that was one of those things for him. He had no idea about it, so he could do nothing but hug her tighter, taking care not to crush her ribcage or scratching her with his claws.

"Today I treated Nani just like trash… she tried to lighten my day, but me and my big mouth had to ruin everything. Now I'd bet she'll be frustrated the whole day, and that's my fault too. Why do I say the wrong things at the wrong time? I can't say what I'm feeling, because then I'll just blow up at anyone…"

Stitch looked up at her and then tilted his head aside, a bit in confusion. "You no blow up at Stitch. Stitch trying to help too, like Nani. Lilo didn't blow up at Stitch. Why?"

Lilo met Stitch's gaze with her own, a bit confused too. That was true: she had spilled all of those negative emotions on Nani, but she didn't with Stitch.

This wasn't the only time this happened. Several times, while they were still kids, he had been the only able to get close to her when no one else could, and so it was with him: she had been the only one who had been able to pierce through that hard armor of ice that once covered his heart and melted it down.

Once more, it was a question that none of them could respond, so she just shrugged.

"I don't know… maybe it's because we're the best friends in the whole galaxy since we're little. And besides, she took the whole load before you came. That shouldn't be fair." She smiled and then patted his head playfully.

Stitch grinned. It was good to see her smile with such serenity at least once in the whole day.

"Naga. Stitch special! Lilo loves him more than Nani. It completely fair!" He teased.

"Of course not! You were lucky to get me with my defenses low. I'd have kicked you out as well." Lilo retorted, a playful smirk forming on her face.

Stitch tackled her, just as when they were kids, making her fall on the soft mattress. She screamed in surprise and then started to laugh as he sat on top of her, running his hands swiftly through her sides as he tickled her. She tried to make a shield with her arms, but Stitch got out his extra-arms and then it was almost impossible for Lilo to cover her sides and belly against Stitch's paws.

"You surrender?" Stitch smirked as he held Lilo's hands against the mattress. The face of the poor girl was now a scarlet red because of all the laughs.

"Never!"

"Then Stitch tickles Lilo!"

"N-no, please! No more t-tickles!" She begged as she laughed more. "O-okay, okay, you got me! I s-surrender!"

"That no enough… say it." Stitch commanded as he stopped his extra-arms from tickling the girl, but kept holding her hands. As Lilo remained silent, he started to tickle her again. Finally, Lilo gave up.

"OKAY, O-OKAY! Y-you're the smartest, cutest and fluffiest evil experiment ever…" She whispered, almost inaudibly.

"Say it louder… and Stitch not evil." Stitch menaced as he lifted his paws to her sides.

"Y-YOU'RE THE SMARTEST, CUTEST AND FLUFFIEST EXPERIMENT EVER!" She said with tears of laughter on her eyes. It had been too many laughs!

"Oki-takka, that enough." Stitch said as he let her go, but when he got distracted, Lilo tackled him to the mattress and rested her weight on his body to prevent some attempt of escape. Stitch gasped as he saw the girl's hands going down to his feet and then he exploded in laughs.

"N-naga! No tickling Stitch! NO TICKLING STITCH!" he shouted as he felt the tickling sensation on his feet. He held his stomach in laughter, being totally at the mercy of the girl.

Even being the so-clever-and-so-strong Experiment 626, he could do nothing against his human friend and her tickle attack. He could not use his paws to defend himself because the laughter was too intense to resist.

"Okay, now you say it." Lilo grinned down at the twisting Experiment 626.

"NAGA!"

"Okay, you asked for it." she sentenced as she intensified the tickles on his feet. Now Stitch was the poor, merciless prisoner being tortured by his friend.

"OKAY! STITCH GIVES UP! LILO IS THE PRETTIEST, SMARTEST AND BIGGEST ELVIS FAN ON EARTH!" he roared out in laughs as big tears of laughter went out his eyes. Under his fur you could see his skin turning into a deep magenta because of all the laughter.

"Thank you, mister." Lilo chuckled and then let go of her friend. "That's enough for a day."

Then Lilo sighed and dropped on her bed, along with Stitch. They rested on the bed with their eyes closed, recovering of their little game.

"Wow, it had been so long since we last played tickle attacks." Lilo realized, her eyes being still closed.

"Ih… too long." Stitch replied as he turned his head to see at Lilo. At least for some minutes, he had managed to make her forget all her gloom and sadness.

"We hadn't played like this since I turned fifteen… about a year ago." Lilo remembered. _'You were too busy attending to Angel and going out on dates with her'_ she said to herself, but kept it in her head, not wanting Stitch to think she was jealous. After all, jealousy was only for little kids, not for a sixteen-year-old girl.

Besides, she was supposed to have gotten over her jealousy at Angel for taking Stitch away from her. She wasn't jealous… or at least that was what she thought.

"Because Stitch with Angel… ih?" Stitch asked softly.

Lilo turned her head to look at Stitch. She could have sworn that he just read her mind, but she shook the idea off her head. Stitch was very smart; he could pick up quickly on what was happening around him. He could realize that he had been for too long with Angel, practically leaving Lilo abandoned.

"Yeah, I guess… but that's not important at all, Stitch, never mind it. I'm okay with you and Angel being together. No need to worry about me." Lilo deflected her gaze from Stitch's. He couldn't say if she was jealous, but her voice had sounded with a stitch of hurt. He didn't like to feel he was hurting Lilo. Maybe he should compensate her somehow…

"Um, Lilo?"

"Yes?"

"Would you… like me to… go out with you…?" Stitch struggled to say it correctly. Lately, he had been trying to talk only in English because he wanted to learn how to speak well, but it was hard for him.

"You mean, like the old days?" Lilo asked surprised, though not disgusted by the idea. Actually, it was all the opposite of it. She couldn't hold herself at the simple thought of being with her best friend for a _whole_ day again, like before.

He nodded. She simply smiled and nodded as well.

Then the doorbell rang downstairs. Both Stitch and Lilo ran to the window to see who was there. There was nobody now, probably Pleakley had opened the door and let the visitor in.

"Well, then let's go!" Lilo said, sounding much more excited than a few minutes ago.

"Ih!" Stitch agreed. They were about to get into the lift, but then Lilo noticed she was still in her pajamas.

"Um, Stitch? I guess I gotta change before going down… you can go downstairs to wait for me if you want; that way you let me change my clothes."

Stitch nodded and then got onto the platform of the lift to go downstairs. He was glad to see that Lilo was in a good temper now; it made him feel so much happier.

He got out the lift. Suddenly, a pair of pink furred arms wrapped his neck, hugging him tightly.

"Da boojibu!"

Stitch turned his head, receiving a kiss square on the lips. He was still shocked by the surprise, but when he realized that Angel was the one who had hugged him, he relaxed a bit and returned the kiss… at least until they caught a glimpse of a blinding flash.

"Hey, don't break the romantic atmosphere!" Pleakley complained as he held a digital camera in his skinny hands. "This is a perfect opportunity to gather some material for 'The most romantic couples' contest! And you two are the perfect target… this is fascinating! I'm gonna win the contest with these photos!"

Pleakley's joy didn't last for too long, though. Before he could blink, his camera laid shattered on the floor, and an angered Stitch pounced on the remains of it, trying to make sure it was broken.

"Grrrr, naga takabah…" Stitch growled angrily, but before he could continue unleashing his anger with Pleakley, he felt a hand stopping him from his shoulder.

"He's not worth it, Stitch." Angel said in Turian. "Leave him alone. He's got enough with his broken camera."

"But he makes me angry!" Stitch answered in Turian too. "And I've got to make sure he got his lesson clear…"

"I think he's got enough. Now let's go."

"Let's go? Where are we going?"

Angel glanced at Stitch with severity. "Don't tell me you forgot it."

"Forgot what?" Stitch looked at her innocently. Behind them, Pleakley was still crying over his deceased camera and babbling something about guarantees.

Angel crossed her arms. "You promised me that you would take me to the movies tonight!"

Stitch smacked his forehead. He had forgotten it completely. "But there's still a lot of hours left before the movie starts!"

"Yeah, but you promised that we would have some lunch too… remember?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Angel exclaimed as she grabbed Stitch by his hand and then practically dragged him to the door. Stitch didn't want to go, though. He wanted to make sure that Lilo was going to be okay, and besides he wanted to go out with her.

"But Angel…! Lilo…"

"You can apologize for not saying bye later! We've got to go now!" The door shut closed noisily as both Angel and Stitch went out. The door had been just closed when a whirr came from the lift.

"Stitch, I'm ready!" Lilo announced, but she got no response. Pleakley was now sweeping the remains of his dear digital camera:

"Stitch is gone! He left with Angel to go on a date… and that way's better for me! Look at what he's done to my poor digital camera! You can get one of these only in big inter-space ports! And it was new! And the guarantee doesn't cover 'destroyed by little angered monsters'!"

Lilo just heard the first sentence. All the other words that went out from Pleakley's mouth had no importance. He had left… _again_. She was alone once more because the charming, pink furred experiment had taken away her friend. And she had thought that finally they could spend at least one single day together!

"Uh, Pleakley, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't feel really feel like listening to you. I feel sick and tired all of sudden. I'm going to the dome."

Pleackley widened his eyes. "You're sick! Don't panic, don't panic, Lilo, don't panic… you're gonna be okay, we've just got to BRING YOU TO A HOSPITAL! AAAAAHHHHH! RESIST A BIT MORE, DON'T DIE YET!" Pleakley screamed as he grabbed Lilo by her wrist and tried to drag her outside to bring her to a hospital.

"Pleakley, I'm fine! I just have a simple headache." She withdrew her arm from Pleakley's skinny hand harshly, and then continued with a dejected tone. "It's not like my heart just broke down or something …" She then made her way to the dome, to spend the day there alone.

When she arrived to her dome, she dropped on the bed tiredly. She decided she would sleep the rest of the afternoon until she didn't feel like sleeping anymore, and then she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Lilo opened her eyes slowly. The room was being engulfed by the dark night now, the stars and the moon barely illuminating the dome. She turned her head to the clock and read the numbers 1:32 a.m. At first she got shocked because of the amount of hours she had been sleeping, but after thinking about it she didn't find it strange. After all, the nightmares she had been having these last days had caused her to have a poor rest.

When she whirled her head to the left, she noticed that Stitch was already sleeping on his cot. She couldn't hear him snoring yet, so he must have just arrived.

Then she noticed the blanket covering her. She didn't remember having put a blanket on before falling asleep. Again, maybe the answer to that question was the blue alien sleeping in front of her.

She brought her hand to the night table and grabbed some kind of T.V. control. She pressed a button and then the ceiling opened before her eyes, allowing her to see the white moon and the shining stars twinkling above. While she was looking at the dark velvet of the sky, she caught a glimpse of a falling star. She thought about it and then started to whisper:

"I don't think this works anymore, but it did once, so… I wish I weren't alone anymore. I don't know who you could bring over here this time. Maybe even my parents. You know… it'd be great if you could do that again for me…" some tears started to gather at the edge of her eyes and her voice sounded cracked. "I still miss them a lot and wish they hadn't gone away…"

Lilo wept silently, knowing that with a single loud noise Stitch could get awoken. She didn't want him to see her crying again. It was something shameful for her.

Stitch heard each one of the words Lilo had said. He heard her as she wept, but managed not to go out his bed to comfort her. He didn't know if she was mad at him for leaving her alone at home without saying even bye, but he didn't want to find out either in case she was.

'_She misses her parents a lot… if only there was a way the falling star made her wish came true…' _he thought at last before the darkness wrapped him.

Right after he finally fell asleep, Lilo muttered a last wish. "But, if you asked me, I actually just wish Stitch didn't ignore me so often to be with Angel. I don't want to be selfish; I want him to be happy, after all. It's just that I miss him a lot… and I guess that's it, really. I guess it's easier to bring back a living person than two dead ones."

Then, some minutes later, Lilo fell asleep again.

* * *

**What do you think about it?** **I have to say that there will not happen anything about traveling in time for a long time. First I want to show some of Lilo and Stitch's life, and eventually I'll make Stitch to travel back to past, until chapter 6 or so, but I promess that you won't get bored, even though the most interesting part is far away yet. W****What do you think about it?** **I have to say that there will not happen anything about traveling in time for a long time. First I want to show some of Lilo and Stitch's life, and eventually I'll make Stitch to travel back to past, until chapter 6 or so, but I promess that you won't get bored, even though the most interesting part is far away yet. Well, that's all what I guess I can say. Please, read AND review!** ell, that's all what I guess I can say. Please, read AND review!


	3. Abandoned

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 3_

_Abandoned_

Lilo's eyelids opened slowly as life came back to her body. She stretched on her bed and yawned.

Her vision was still blurry, but still, her eyes immediately went to the front cot, trying to catch her friend. All she could see was a blurry bulk laying on the cot. She brought her hands to her eyelids and rubbed the sleep away from them, trying to get some focus.

Her heart sank at the sight of the empty cot. The blurry bulk she had believed was Stitch was just a pillow covered with the blue blanket Stitch used to sleep.

"_Well, don't be so pessimist. He might be downstairs having breakfast and waiting for you!" _she heard her own voice on her head talking with optimism, but deep inside her she knew that wasn't true. The painful true was that she had been left behind again. He had Angel, that sweet girlfriend of his who made his life complete and perfect.

Lilo could feel the unmistakable sensation that she always felt before crying. She felt her throat getting swollen, as if she had swallowed something thick that she couldn't gulp down at all, and besides, it hurt. Her eyes started to get watery, and her vision started to get blurry once more, not because of drowsiness, but because the tears were bidding to go out her eyes. A shudder ran across her body as she fought against the tears, but every second that passed it seemed to get harder to keep back the tears.

Finally, a little pearly tear fell to splash against the silky sheets, rolling down until it was absorbed by the cloth. Some other tears followed the first one, making some moist spots on the bed, but no sound went out her throat, even though she wanted to cry out her heart loudly.

"_Think of happy things, think of happy things…" _a voice urged inside her, but how could she think of happy things when she had the painful true right ahead her nose? She was returning to her unhappy childhood, just after her parents died and she was left alone. Now, ten years later she was still that little, abandoned girl nobody could understand at all. The only one who could fully understand was gone and left her to her loneliness again to make his own life with his other half.

"Why does it hurt so much?" She wondered loudly, being the only question she could think of at the moment.

She was shaking now, but no loud cry went out her lips. All those thoughts weren't really helping her to think of happy things; instead, they were making her feel more miserable and lonely.

"_Okay, it's enough. Stop it. Stop thinking only about yourself. You're acting just like a silly, selfish girl who is sorry about herself and thinks of all her misery instead of thinking of the happiness of her best friend. You should be happy about him and his relationship. After all you're not alone at all…"_

She fought the tears again with that thought on mind, and finally she managed to stop them, but her heart felt harmed, even though there were no more tears rolling down her cheeks.

Yeah, she wanted to believe that she wasn't really alone and that she could just go out and enjoy everything around her. She wanted to believe that she was just being selfish and that she didn't really need somebody to be beside her. She wanted to believe that she could really feel happy about Stitch and Angel being together, even though it meant that her life would have always a missing part, but it was just impossible to ignore the true. Why did true have to be so hard?

"Okay, I need a break," she said loudly to herself as she jumped out her bed. "I haven't gone out to have some fun in a while, so why not? I just might blow up if I don't get some fun… let's see, what could we do?"

Almost unconsciously, she whirled her head towards the cot, expecting Stitch to be there and give her some idea, but then her eyes found the empty cot again, making her spirits drop.

"I forgot… there's no little games mate to go with me this time… I've got to find something to do by myself… wow, am I really _that _used to have Stitch beside me?" she said thoughtfully as she headed to her wardrobe. Then she realized that she wasn't in her pajamas, but had on the clothes she had picked up since last day.

She decided they weren't really wrinkled to change them, so she just picked up her two-pieces bathing suit, a large orange towel and a surfboard. This day was going to be loads of fun, surfing the whole day at the beach… even though her little blue furred friend wasn't going with her.

She shook her head. She had to shake off those thoughts if she wanted to have some fun, so she didn't muse anymore about it and rushed to the lift to start with her day of fun.

Soon, she was making her way through the outsides of the little town to get to the beach. She would have probably asked Nani to take her jeep (she had finally been allowed to drive) but she was still a bit scared about having to face her sister after all the happens of the last day… besides, Stitch had taken the buggy, so what else could she do but walking? After all, maybe walking could help her to clear off her mind. She would try not to think about any thing that would make her upset or sad, or that's to say she wouldn't think of Stitch today or her parents.

She sighed tiredly as she looked around her, her eyes looking for some interesting thing to look at. Right now she was walking on that street where Amnesio had erased their memories… it had been so long ago, when it was only Stitch and her, and no one else mattered but their Ohana…

Her eyes deflected from that place and she preferred to look at any other place. She was supposed not to think about things that might make her sad or upset. She was only going to make herself depressed if she remembered all that stuff, so she just kept walking.

Soon, she was walking on another little street. A big tree was splitting the road in two. Her mind went backwards again. This was the same place where Stitch and she had defeated 627 with his own laughter…

Again, she accelerated her steps, her backpack trembling behind of her and her surfboard shaking. She didn't want to get tears on her eyes again.

Then she turned on a corner and saw the Maki Macaw's restaurant. Phantasmo seemed to be having a break because he wasn't on stage. He was near of a huge window having some lunch. When he saw Lilo walking by, he waved happily at her. Lilo noticed him and returned the greeting with a huge smile as she waved back. He was totally different from that experiment, so long ago, that blamed Stitch of all his pranks…

She gasped loudly as she thought of that. She was remembering him again. She trotted away, leaving a confused Phantasmo behind.

It didn't matter how hard she tried not to think of the old days of experiment hunters she shared with Stitch, there was always a store, a palm-tree, a food post, a street… darn it, even the rocks around the way remembered her of the old days! In a small town like this, it was hard not to remember something that happened just where you were looking at, especially when those were places where you and your best friend had started a great adventure… before they got distant.

Before she could realize what was going on, Lilo was already running towards the beach as fast as her legs could carry her. Her feet were now barely touching the ground as she ran. She wanted to get rid of all those memories, at least only today.

She ran during two minutes more before her sandals finally touched the sandy ground of the beach and she could see the deep blue waters of the sea. Now even the beach reminded her of Stitch and the first time he surfed and almost drowned. In fact, this was that same beach. She had bought him just a day before…

Well, but at least she knew that the warm water of the ocean would calm her down and make her forget for a long time everything. She let her surfboard stand straight on the sand as she went to a little lobby to put on her bathing suit. After a couple of minutes, she was finally ready.

She stepped outside, her lovely two-pieces bathing suit already on and her large towel around her shoulders. It wasn't a too showy bathing suit, but she blushed as some boys (probably only tourists that came to spend their Spring-Break time there) stared at her when she passed them. She wasn't used to draw attention from boys, and she still kept some of that timidity she had since she was little. One of them said something and the other two just snickered while looking at her. Lilo accelerated her steps to the water, her cheeks turning now into a deep scarlet as she realized that they were obviously talking about her. She decided not to turn her head to look at them even if they called her or something.

If only Stitch had been there, the boys surely would have been knocked down by him and freaked away by his anger. That was what he used to do whenever one boy even dared to look at her in a way he didn't approve… before he started to spend all of his time with Angel, about two years ago. She lowered her face for some moments, clearly in a sadness gesture, but she kept walking to the water. The edge was a bit far away, maybe twelve yards or so.

The three boys that were looking at her were joking about something, or at least it seemed like that because they were chuckling. One of them elbowed one of his pals as he pointed at Lilo, and after being encouraged by his two friends, the one who had been elbowed started to walk towards Lilo. As he took notice that she was going into the water, he trotted to catch her up.

Lilo extended her towel and left her little backpack on the sand, feeling that she was safe now from the glances of those boys, but as soon as she placed her hand on her surfboard to take it to the water, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped in fright when she felt the strong hand on her bare skin and whirled her head swiftly to look at the one who had scared her.

"Oh, did I scare you? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give you a fright." The boy said, smiling apologetically at her.

Lilo stared at him thoroughly as she studied him. He wasn't a native; that was for sure. His skin was white, slightly tan because of the sun, and his lightly flushed face seemed to have a skin as soft as a baby's. His eyes were a deep ocean blue, and his hair was straight and as black as ebony, and it seemed to be very soft to the touch. His body was thin, but strong, as well as his legs and arms. He was wearing only a red-and-blue short with some yellow designs that seemed to be his bathing suit, which reached right under his knees. As Lilo stared at the tall boy and his bathing suit she could almost figure he was some kind of Superman or something so. That apologetic smile he was giving her showed his perfect line of white, bright teeth. He was really handsome…

"Oh no, don't worry, I'm okay… it's just that I'm not used to finding strangers behind me and tapping at my shoulder …" she beamed at him as she took a lock of hair off her forehead. The boy returned the smile with his own perfect smile.

"My name's Clark Kent… there, I'm not a stranger anymore."

Lilo's jaw dropped for some seconds, but soon she recovered her composure and gave him a skeptical glance.

The boy chuckled. "Okay, okay, I'm just kidding. That was a real bad joke, I'll admit that."

"Oh, heh… I knew there was something too strange about your 'name'. What's your name, then?"

"I'm Chris Routh, but you can call me Chris. What's yours?" He asked as he stared straight into her eyes.

"Hum? Oh yeah, my name… I'm Lilo Pelekai." Lilo stuttered, trying to deflect her glance from Chris'. She felt as if she were about to blush, but she controlled her urge and kept her coolness.

"Lilo… that sounds like a Hawaiian name, so you must be a native… right?"

"Yeah, I'm Hawaiian…"

"Lilo… I like your name. It sounds real cool." Chris looked down at the sand on his feet.

"Well, yours is a cool name too… I guess. I like it." Lilo said as she took her surfboard back into her arms.

"Um, Lilo? Would you mind it if I surf with you?" Chris asked timidly, placing his hands in his pockets ashamedly.

"No, of course not. Come on! There are some good waves waiting for us!" Lilo beckoned Chris to follow her to the water.

"Okay, just let me get my own surfboard, and then I'll be with you in a couple of minutes," Chris replied as he rushed to the place where all the boys had been standing some minutes ago. Now the place was empty, except of Chris' presence, but the beach was practically empty. This wasn't one of the most frequented beaches, so it was perfect to be calm and catch some great waves with no one annoying you.

Lilo went into the water to catch some wave while waiting for Chris, but before she could catch one, Chris was already into the water and was beside her. Both of them waited until a great twenty-five-feet-tall wave came to them. They stood slowly up on their boards and then waited to be lifted along with the water. The enormous wave roared behind them, the crystalline water splashing against their feet made it hard to hold on their boards, but Lilo, having experience at surfing, found it just a bit hard, unlike to Chris, who could barely keep standing on his board.

Lilo closed her eyes happily as she felt the warm sea breeze stroking her face and blowing her hair behind of her, but opened them of sudden as she heard a loud splash beside her. She turned her head to the place where Chris had been standing on his surfboard only a couple of seconds ago, but there was only the slender, large surfboard he had been using.

"Chris?" she called worriedly. She tried to look for him under the water with her glance.

There was no sign of Chris.

Fortunately, the wave had almost finished its twirling when she heard the splash, so there was no danger of being dragged away by the force of water. She didn't wait for the moment when the waters calmed down completely; she jumped into the water and started looking for him.

The clear waters waved behind her as her strong legs and arms brought her deeper into the sea, looking desperately for Chris. The colored fish swam carefree as the girl moved among them, looking for her new-made friend, but there was no sign of Chris yet. Finally, she felt her lungs stinging for air, and she had to swim back to the surface.

The water broke apart as Lilo emerged to take a breath of oxygen. She was pretty worried now. She had not seen any sign of Chris while she was down there. What if she had passed him without noticing? What if she hadn't seen him floating near her? Fear filled her as those questions inundated her mind. She was about to go back under the water, but then she heard a voice calling her.

"Hey Lilo! Over here!"

Lilo turned her head as she recognized the voice. There, already sitting on his surfboard was the smiling boy, holding her surfboard as some drops of water dripped from his hair and his chin. Lilo sighed with relief when she realized that he wasn't harmed and started to swim towards him.

"Chris! Don't ever do that again! I could have had a heart attack!" Lilo scolded as she climbed up to her board. Chris just smiled.

"Seems like I already took a liking of scaring you at that point."

"Yeah, I've already noticed that." Lilo replied, half joking, half scolding. "Anyway, do you know how to surf?"

"Yes, kind of." replied Chris. Lilo tilted her head confused.

"How's that?

"Well, you'll see…" Chris started to explain. "I've surfed before at home, in California, but the water there is not the same than it is here. I feel that the waves come with more strength here than they do in California… besides, they're not that tall."

"Oh, that's why you fell to the water when the wave came onto us. That makes sense after all. You must have been raised here or at least be almost an expert to ride our waves without falling. If you want, I could teach you." Lilo offered friendly. Chris nodded.

"I'd love to, but first I would love to have some lunch before practicing. Would you like to have something for you too?"

Lilo hesitated a bit before saying yes. She wasn't used to go this fast with new persons, especially if it was a boy who was inviting her to have some lunch. She didn't want to get fond of him very soon. What if he was only a tourist trying to get some fun with a girl before he left? And if he wasn't, what if he didn't like her because she was too weird for him?

Chris waited patiently for her answer as he kept his eyes on her. Lilo hesitated still a bit longer…

"Yeah, I guess so," she finally said, and then spoke up softly. "Thanks."

"No prob. Well, I'm new here, so where's the best place to go and have some lunch?"

"Well, there are a lot of places." Lilo explained. "What would you like to get? Ice cream? A burger?"

"I guess I'll go for a hot-dog and soda." Chris replied.

"Me too. Well, let's go!" Lilo lay down on her belly and started to swim back to the beach with the surfboard under her. Chris watched as she went further and then followed her.

They picked up their backpacks and then Lilo brought him to a little shack-like-store, inviting people to come in by a big advertisement reading 'fast food' on it. When they got there, Chris ordered two hot-dogs and a Pepsi for him. Lilo asked for a burger and a Coke for herself, but while she was ordering them she noticed that Chris didn't draw his eyes away from her but kept staring at her.

She pretended she didn't realize of it, but whenever she peeked at him with the corner of her eye she would always find him staring at her. She didn't know why, but she kind of liked it. She had never got attention from boys, especially from the hot ones, and the only fact that Chris didn't move his eyes off of her brought some discomfort, and yet she liked it.

"Sooo?" She hurried as she noticed him staring intently at her.

"Um? So what?"

"Well, I don't know… anything you'd like to talk about?" Lilo suggested lamely as she looked down at her hands lying on her lap. Then she lifted her glance at him and noticed him staring again at her. _"What's up with this boy?" _she wondered as watched how he deflected his glance ashamedly, realizing that she had caught him staring at her.

"Uh, what if we talk about you? Well, if you don't mind…" Chris said hesitantly.

"Okay."

"Well, uh… how old are you?" He asked lamely. The waitress came and placed their meals on the table and they started to eat.

"I'm sixteen, soon turning seventeen."

"Guess I'm a year older than you. I'm already seventeen." Chris commented.

"Well, and what brought you to Kauai? Are you only a tourist?" Lilo asked anxiously. She didn't want to get too many hopes yet about Chris even being her friend.

"No… I'm here because I got orphan. My parents died a year ago in an accident." He started as his face darkened. "I lived with my grandma until she died, about two months ago. I had to move here because here lives my uncle, the closest member of my family after my grandma."

"I'm really sorry to hear that." Lilo said, immediately understanding him. He had lost many loved ones in a short time. "I lost my parents too in an accident when I was five. I miss them a lot even now. I know the way you feel now because that's the same I still feel."

"I'm really sorry. It must have been really hard for you to lose them when you were still a little girl."

"Yeah, it was." Lilo nodded sadly. "But fortunately, I found Stitch before everything got worse for me."

"Stitch?" He asked, twitching his fingers.

Lilo slapped her forehead lightly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mention him before. He's…" Lilo stopped herself, realizing that she had been about to say he was her friend. She had to say that he was only her dog pet to any stranger, no more.

"Your boyfriend?" Chris asked as he noticed Lilo hesitating, his voice sounding a bit upset.

"No!" Lilo hurried to explain as she smiled ashamed, her cheeks starting to tinge red. "He's just my dog!"

"Oh, heh… sorry," Chris blushed. "I kind of thought that, a nickname or something… silly idea of mine. Then are you alone or you're having more family with you?"

"I have more family. I live with my sister Nani, my uncle Jumba and my… auntie Pleakley." Lilo replied.

"Your uncle and aunt have cool names. Are they aliens?"

Lilo was about to choke with her Coke, but could keep herself calm.

"If you mean foreign, yeah, they are… I don't know where they came from, I haven't asked them." she said, trying to prevent him of asking another questions about her alien family.

They talked for a long time, and Lilo learned that Chris' uncle was Mr. Jameson, Keoni's father, and he learned that she used to have a crush on his cousin when she was little. He seemed to feel relieved when he knew that she didn't like him that way anymore, and felt even more relieved when he learned she hadn't a boyfriend. The hours passed, and then the sun started to set behind the sea, and they were still talking about their families and other stuff.

"Um, Chris, I think I've got to go home now. It's time for Nani to go back home and I wouldn't like to get a scold. She doesn't like me to be out home after the sun sets. Besides I'd like to see my soon-to-be-brother-in-law. He must be with my sister right now, planning their wedding and all that stuff." Lilo said as she stood up from the table. "Aloha Chris."

"Wait!" He took a grip from her wrist. Lilo looked at him awkwardly and he blushed as he let her go. "I mean… will I see you again?"

Lilo smiled. "What do you think about tomorrow at nine o' clock in the morning here?"

Chris smiled back at her. "Perfect. Would you like me to go with you?"

"Oh no… I'm sure Nani wouldn't like to see a new boy around me before I've talked with her about him. Let's give it some time, okay? Oh, by the way, here's the money of my lunch."

"Don't worry Lilo. I'll pay for it."

"But…!"

"It's my deal. I'm glad you accepted to have lunch with me. That was enough for me." Chris beamed as he lifted his hand to pat her shoulder, but decided only to shake hands and offered his. "See you later, Lilo."

"Here we say 'aloha'." Lilo smiled at him as she hugged him briefly ", especially if we're already friends.

"Hum, o-okay" Chris blushed when she felt Lilo's arms wrapping around him. Then uh, aloha Lilo."

"Aloha Chris." Lilo waved at him as she trotted away.

Chris watched as she went further on the sand and then followed her with his glance until she disappeared among the giant ferns of the little forest. _"Wow, she's not only kind and cool"_ he thought as he leaned his head dreamily on the trunk of a palm-tree _"she's beautiful too…"  
_

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**Well, howzit? Chris isn't gonna appear like a main character in this story, I'm just gonna use him to make Stitch realize about some things... well, maybe eventually he'll become a main character, but I don't think so by now. Please R&R!**


	4. Discoveries

Finally, chapter 4 is here! It's a miracle, considering that I just entered school last week. Oh, and talking about school, this might take a lot of my time, so I won't be able to write as often as I did on vacation. Maybe there will be weeks when I won't update anything, but I will try yo keep updating every week. It's not a promise, but I will try to update every week. Okay, enjoy it!

* * *

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 4_

_Discoveries_

Lilo looked back as she continued trotting. It seemed like if she was now out of Chris' view, so she returned to the sandy ground of the beach and slowed down her steps. She didn't know why, but it felt so good to have the full attention of a boy, and even so she was afraid of it. It was the strangest thing she had ever felt.

The sun was starting to hide behind the blue ocean, giving it golden glitters. Above her head the sky was now turning a deep dark blue, and the first star was starting to twinkle weakly. She loved the sunsets at the beach. The sky always got beautiful colors: there was the golden yellow of the sun when it's setting, the deep pink of the clouds and the dark blue of the night sky, among others she couldn't really tell what color they were.

The white sand felt warm and soft as her feet touched it. She walked a bit into the water of the sea, only making wet her feet. It was warm. As she watched everything around her, she thought of Chris again. Of course she had liked him, after all he was tall, strong, handsome, sweet and kind… everything a girl would wish in a boy.

But what about him? Did he like her? She could tell he sort of liked her, but she wanted to know more. He never stopped staring at her unless she caught his eyes with her own. Did that mean something special?

"_This is so strange… I had always wanted to draw at least a bit of attention from a boy, but now that I think I have, it feels so odd…and this is not just any boy. He's like me... kind of. He's lost his parents as well and he's lonely, just like me. I don't know if those boys were his friends, but I can tell he feels as lonely as I do. It's something good he's not only a tourist…" _she thought. Then she shook her head _"I mean, it's good he's not only a tourist because that way I can be friends with him… nothing more, right?_

She had been wandering so deeply on her thoughts that she didn't realize that she had already passed that little pat where she was supposed to enter to get home, but kept walking straight forward.

"_Am I starting to get a crush on him? Well, after all he does seem like a nice boy. Am I going too fast? Well, maybe I'm not. We talked since eleven o'clock until the sun started to set. That must be long enough to know him at least a bit and know if I can develop some kind of crush on him… at least he doesn't think that I'm weird. He loves Wasp Mummies too! Hey, wait a minute. What if I'm only trying to get with somebody only because I don't like to be alone?"_

She didn't have time to answer that question. Some laughter took her away from her thoughts. At first, it was only a faint sound, but as she kept walking forward the laughter grew louder, and she thought for some seconds she had recognized Stitch's voice, but she wasn't sure. Then she realized that she had already passed the path that would lead her home, but she was so curious about the laughter that she just kept walking forward.

She sharpened her hearing, trying to discover the place where the happy noises came from. She walked into the forest now, moving apart the bushy leaves to get a better view. She kept walking into the forest, the lasts sunbeams allowing her to see the way ahead. The noise grew louder every second she gave a step. Finally, she peeked behind the trunk of a palm-tree, where the noises came from…

She felt clearly how a knot went to her throat at the view.

Stitch was on top of Angel and tickling her as he spoke in Turian. Angel was roaring in laughter as Stitch's hands ran across her sides and belly, trying to speak as well, but the laughter was just too intense. She lifted her legs to his belly and pushed him away. Stitch fell, his back on the ground. Angel climbed now on top of him and started to tickle him too.

"Naga, pleechiba! Angel, naga…!"

"Naga takabah!"

Lilo stared at the couple for some seconds. The knot on her throat grew thicker as she processed slowly the image of Stitch and Angel tickling each other. They seemed to be having so much fun… just like she and Stitch had been before.

_Lilo ran swiftly across the forest, her forehead was covered with cold sweat. She was only twelve by then. The bushes behind her cracked as someone approached swiftly, and she tried to accelerate her steps to get to the beach, but it was to no avail. She heard panting behind of her, very close to her back, and then felt the paws grabbing her feet. She screamed as she fell to the ground and then whirled her head to meet Stitch's gaze. He was now on top of her, smiling proudly:_

"_Stitch catch Lilo. Lilo give Stitch coconut cake. That was deal."_

_Lilo huffed with false anger as she gazed at him._

"_Hey, that was not fair! I told you that you could start chasing me until you reached ten!"_

_Stitch then started to talk in his language. Soon, Lilo realized he was counting in Turian and pushed him away playfully as she smiled._

"_Hey, you know perfectly that Turian numbers are shorter than the normal ones. I thought you were going to count in English, not in Turian!"_

"_Ih… Stitch clever. Very, very clever. More than Lilo." Stitch smirked as he looked down at his friend, still lying on the sandy ground._

"_Oh, yeah? You think so?" Lilo mocked as she sat up. _

_Before she could fully stand up, she felt Stitch's hands on her back and calves, and then she realized he was taking her to the beach. He was very fast, even though he was holding her weight on his arms. She was marveled for some seconds because of his strength, but then she remembered that he could lift 3000 times his own weight. Even so, she was marveled that a little creature like him could hold that strength._

_Finally, after some seconds, they reached the beach. Stitch placed Lilo carefully on the ground, just as if he were holding a delicate flower on his paws._

"_Thank you, sir. You're sooo kind!" Lilo said as she bent down slightly and extended her arms to her sides, making like if she had a long dress and was doing a reverence as an old British lady. _

_Stitch smiled. Lilo turned her back to enter the ocean water, but before she placed a foot inside she was tackled to the ground by Stitch._

"_Hey, what are you doing Stitch?" Lilo demanded to know as she gazed at him, confusion marked in her pretty brown eyes._

"_Tickle attack!" Stitch exclaimed as he jumped on top of Lilo, though watching his own strength and his weight._

_Then everything became clear in Lilo's head. He hadn't carried her to the beach because of kindness, but because that way he could tackle her to the soft, sandy ground of the beach instead of the hard ground of the forest. Well, at least he had chosen a place with soft ground to tackle her._

"_No! W-wait!" Lilo begged as she let out her laughs. Stitch enjoyed hearing the laughs of the girl. They were melodious to his ears, and besides it was fun to see the face of his friend getting red with the laughter._

_Lilo tried desperately to look for a weak point on Stitch to tackle him. Slowly, with a shaking hand, she reached his belly and started to tickle him. There passed just some brief seconds before Stitch fell to the ground laughing uncontrollably. _

_Lilo and Stitch continued their little game until the sunset, when Lilo remembered they had to get home because they didn't want an angered Nani. Finally, they stopped; their faces flushed because of all the laughs and then started their walk towards home._

_"You surrender?" Stitch smirked as he held Lilo's hands against the mattress. The face of the poor girl was now a scarlet red because of all the laughs._

"_Never!"_

"_Then Stitch tickles Lilo!"_

"_N-no, please! No more t-tickles!" she begged as she laughed more. "O-okay, okay, you got me! I s-surrender!"_

"_That no enough… say it." Stitch commanded as he stopped his extra-arms from tickling the girl, but kept holding her hands. As Lilo remained silent, he started to tickle her again. Finally, Lilo gave up._

"_OKAY, O-OKAY! Y-you're the smartest, cutest and fluffiest evil experiment ever…" she whispered, almost inaudibly._

"_Say it louder… and Stitch not evil." Stitch menaced as he lifted his paws to her sides._

"_Y-YOU'RE THE SMARTEST, CUTEST AND FLUFFIEST EXPERIMENT EVER!" she said with tears of laughter in her eyes. It had been too many laughs!_

"_Oki-takka, that enough…"_

_"N-no! Daddy, p-please stop!"_

_The man moved away his hands from the belly of the five-year-old girl and instead moved them to her sides to lift her._

"_Okay, guess that's enough. Just look at you! Your face is already red."_

"_Can I tickle her now?" the sweet voice of her mom came to them._

"_There's no time now. Let's take the photo, okay? The first day Lilo surfed." The man said as he placed Lilo on the leaning trunk of a palm tree. "Is it ready, Nani?"_

"_Yep!" a younger Nani pressed the button of the camera and then ran to her parents and sister. "Now everybody smile… guess I'll have to lay down if Lilo's gonna be on that palm tree. Okay, in five… four… three… two… one…"_

_A white flash came from the camera. The image remaining showed Lilo sitting on the trunk of the palm tree as she looked at her dad, who had an ukelele on his hands and sunglasses as he smiled at her, Nani looking up as she lay down on the sand and her mom behind of the palm tree, staring at her little daughter._

Lilo felt a little warm tear rolling down her face. Those three moments came to her so quickly and yet she felt like if she had delayed hours remembering. The reality came back to her quickly, fully hitting her. She was again a sixteen-year-old girl and was staring at her best friend playing with his girlfriend exactly the same game he used to play only with her, so long ago.

The couple was playing still, not noticing the girl staring at them sadly. They were too busy playing to pay attention to their surroundings. From time to time, Stitch was on top of Angel, and from time to time Angel was the one leading the game. Lilo felt the urge of letting out a soft cry, but she kept it back. She didn't want Stitch to notice she was there, looking what he was doing.

If Lilo had looked more thoroughly at Stitch, she may have noticed that the happy expression he had on his face was fake. She was the only one who could realize when Stitch was faking some feeling, so Angel didn't really realize that Stitch was worried. His laughs were fake as well as his expression, but even if Lilo had noticed something strange she had convinced herself that she was imagining things.

But true was that Stitch couldn't help but think of Lilo the whole time he had spent with Angel and wonder if she was okay. He didn't like to leave her alone, but he felt obligated to go wherever Angel wanted to take him to because of the only fact they were a couple. In fact, most of the things he did with Angel were because he felt obligated to do them, even returning her kisses. He didn't get anymore that feeling around her he had thought at first was love… he had always thought that he truly loved her and wanted to spent the rest of his life with her, but as time passed he started to doubt about his former thoughts. Was this feeling true love?

Angel took advantage of the momentarily distraction of his thoughts and then tackled him to the ground. Before Stitch could do anything, he felt Angel leaning over him and felt the pressure of her lips against his. Without thinking about it, he returned the kiss almost automatically, even though there was no magic as before when he kissed her.

Lilo stared in shock as Angel bent down and kissed Stitch. It had been bad enough to watch them playing the same game she had played with Stitch when they were little, but seeing them kiss was beyond of her limits. She turned her head quickly, not wanting to watch anymore, and then started to walk slowly away, this time the tears were filling her face. Why did she feel so much pain when she saw them kissing was something she couldn't know by certain, but she knew it hurt her.

She gave small, quiet steps, trying to pass unnoticed just as when she had arrived that place, but her vision was now so blurry that she didn't notice the dried twig ahead.

There was a crunch and then a gasp of fear.

Stitch's eyes popped open and his ears perked as he heard the faint crunch and the quiet gasp. His nose started to sniff the air, looking for some kind of aroma of some lost animal, but he didn't sniff any animal, but the scent of the shampoo Lilo used. Angel didn't seem to have noticed the faint sounds for she was still kissing him, but Stitch pulled her away a bit roughly and then jumped to his feet.

Lilo covered her mouth too late. Her gasp had already gone out, and all she could do now was running. She looked back and saw Stitch standing up as sniffing the air in her direction, and started to run.

Angel stared at Stitch in confusion. "Stitch?"

Stitch didn't pay attention to Angel. He sniffed the air and then heard the faint sound of sandals hitting the soft sand, like if someone was running away. There was left only a little cloud of dust and a lonely Angel.

Lilo stumbled with the root of a tree and fell to the ground. Her blurry vision wasn't really helping her to escape from there, but even so she stood up again and continued her runaway, but after running some more yards she stumbled again, this time with a rock.

She tried to stand up again, but the stinging pain of her foot didn't allow her to get to her feet again. Almost desperate, she helped herself to get up by supporting her weight in a near tree, but she had given only three steps when she fell again to the ground.

She yelped as she felt her body hitting the cold ground. She felt a burning pain on her harmed foot and something wet and warm covering it, so she turned her head to stare down at the harmed zone, and then she noticed by first time the red liquid mixing with the dirt of the ground, and then she saw it was oozing from her foot. She gasped in shock as she realized it was blood flowing from a wound in her skin. It wasn't abundant, but it scared her enough.

Stitch rushed through the bushy ferns. He was almost sure it was Lilo the one he had smelled and heard some seconds ago. He was so concentrated on following the trail of Lilo that he didn't notice the obstacle ahead. He stumbled and fell to the ground, but when he was about to jump back to his feet he noticed what the obstacle was. He got closer as he grabbed it, and when he studied it he realized it was a sandal, one of the extremes of the leash totally ripped off.

He recognized it as Lilo's, so he got concerned about it, but before he could get any conclusion he heard a soft cry, some yards ahead, behind the bushes. He stood up, still holding the ripped sandal on his paw. As he kept walking, he could make sure it was Lilo the one who cried some seconds ago. His hands lifted to move apart the leaves, and there was Lilo, holding her foot in pain.

"Lilo!"

Lilo lifted instantly her head as she heard his voice. She would have liked to disappear from there in that very moment, but her harmed foot wouldn't allow her to give a single step. Stitch knelt beside her, concerned about his friend. He noticed the tears on her face, but soon he noticed as well the thick liquid flowing from her foot.

"Lilo, you okay? What happen?" He asked worriedly as he stroked her hand with his, trying to give her some comfort.

"It's nothing Stitch. I'm almost sure I can… aaahhh!" Lilo cried as she tried to get herself up. The pain on her foot grew more intense as she tried to support her weight on her legs. She took hold of the trunk of a near palm tree as she tried to help herself up, but soon the pain on her foot made her stumble and fall again. Luckily, Stitch caught her, protecting her from getting harmed again.

"Lilo naga okay. Lilo need help to walk?" He asked as he placed her gently on the ground. Lilo nodded, but as she tried to get on her feet she stumbled once more, falling upon Stitch. He was taken by surprise, so even he fell to the ground along with Lilo.

Lilo groaned as she tried to sit up, but then she noticed where she had fallen on. Her cheek was glued to Stitch's chest, as if she was resting on him, and her arms remained around his neck. When she lifted her head, her nose got to touch Stitch's nose, who had already sat up.

She had done this same thing a lot of times when she was little. She would brush her nose against Stitch's playfully, but that was when they were practically kids. Now this was different… they weren't little anymore, and now they could understand a lot of things that they couldn't while they were younger, like this one. Back then, it could have been a simple game, but now it didn't seem like that, and it felt strange. Now Lilo felt a funny feeling tickling inside her chest while she was this close to Stitch, and it made her blush fiercely as she stared into Stitch's eyes.

Stitch couldn't help to feel his cheeks burning slightly too, but thanks to his fur his blushing wouldn't be noticeable to Lilo. He got that same warm feeling he got whenever he had her close, but this time it felt different… now it was more intense than other times. Why was he getting this warm feeling when he had her this close to him? Why it was she who made him feel this way when Angel was the only one who had managed to do the same?

He gasped when he remembered Angel. In one or another way, he felt like if he shouldn't be feeling this around Lilo, especially if he was still dating Angel. Would it be cheating on Angel, feeling all of these strange things for Lilo? He wouldn't find it out, that was for sure, so he broke the moment and pulled Lilo away gently.

"Stitch!"

Both of them whirled their heads to see Angel coming out from the bushes. For some seconds Stitch was relieved he pulled Lilo away in time. If he hadn't, then Angel would have got jealous and would have demanded an explanation, even though they weren't really doing anything bad. Angel came closer, and when she noticed Lilo on the ground with her foot oozing blood she gasped.

"Stitch, Lilo… gaba ika tasoopa?" She questioned, asking what had happened.

"Lilo got hurt. She needs Stitch to carry her home." Stitch explained. Angel nodded in agreement as she stared back at her harmed foot.

"Oki-takka. See you tomorrow?" She asked once more. Stitch only nodded and Angel walked away, making her way to her home.

Lilo tried once more to get to her feet, but then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She lifted her eyes and saw Stitch giving her a scolding, yet understanding look. "No, Lilo. You hurt. Stitch carry you home."

Lilo didn't say anything, she just allowed Stitch to take her into his arms like a baby. She nuzzled her face on his chest, enjoying his warm fur tickling the soft skin of her face. Stitch smiled a bit too when he felt Lilo nuzzling on his fur, and then started walking home. Soon, he felt Lilo going limp on his arms, and then he knew she had fallen asleep, this time the pain on her feet bothering her no more.

He walked still twenty minutes until he reached the old house with the dome on the top. He opened the door using one of his extra-hands, and then closed the door behind of him.

"Lilo! Stitch, what happened? Why are you carrying Lilo?"

Stitch turned his head, seeing Pleakley holding a pot on his hands as staring at him, his mouth opened in fear and awe. He left the pot on the table and walked quickly to meet Stitch and Lilo. Stitch only placed the girl on the couch gently, trying to keep her sleeping, but soon Pleakley's high-pitched voice and his questions ended waking her up.

"Oh, Lilo, what happened to you? Why are you bleeding?" Pleakley asked anxiously.

"What is being happening in here?" Jumba asked as he entered the room, then he saw the bloodstained foot as well. "Little girl, what happened to you?"

"Hey guys, calm down!" Lilo begged. She couldn't understand any of the aliens as they talked at the same time. "I just stumbled with a rock and I got a scratch, that's all…"

"Then why Stitch carried you here?" Pleakley asked, not believing at all that Lilo was okay.

"Pleakley, I just couldn't get to my feet because of the pain, but don't worry, I'm sure I will be a lot better tomorrow… well, at least that's what I think."

"Do not to be worrying, Little Girl. I'm sure Evil Genius can find genius healing paste to accelerate healing process on the wound. I can be assuring it is being better than any Earth method to heal." Jumba said as he went to his and Pleakley's room.

"Well, I'd bet it's gonna take him a long time before he finds his… whatever he said. I told him he should keep in order his stuff, but no, he's Mister-I-know-everything-I-don't-need-your-help!" Pleakley muttered angrily, and then he remembered that Lilo and Stitch were still there. "Oh, by the way Lilo, I just watched on TV a new method to stop the pain from wounds and all that stuff, and I can tell it is a really easy way to prepare that mixture."

"What is it and what did you see on that TV show, Pleakley?" Lilo asked fearfully, knowing what kind of ideas would be crossing Pleakley's head right on that moment.

"Well, I'm not really sure if that boy was being sarcastic or proud about himself, all I saw was he spread some lemon mixed with salt upon the wound of a very weird-looking boy. When he went off screaming, the boy explained he was shouting because he was happy for the pain was gone." Pleakley said as both Lilo and Stitch made grimaces, only because they imagined the pain the poor boy went through.

"I don't even want to imagine what he was watching." Lilo muttered under her breath. "No thanks, Pleakley! I'd rather wait for Jumba. My foot can wait to be healed…" she muttered by last time before Stitch took her in his arms again and carried her to the dome.

"Um, okay! But remember: if it gets worse, I can heal you!" They heard by last time before they went up.

"Sheesh! Pleakley does really need to stop watching TV. Some day he's gonna learn a REAL bad thing." Lilo sighed as Stitch placed her on her bed.

Stitch was about to get to his cot, but then an image of Lilo's tearful face came to his mind. Before he noticed the blood on her foot, he had seen tears on her face. Maybe there would have been a few tears if she cried because of the pain, but usually she didn't cried like that over things like pain, or at least not of that sort. He turned on his heels and then he climbed on Lilo's bed, looking at her with concern.

"Why Lilo crying when Stitch found her?" He asked as he moved closer to her, preparing himself for anything that would come. Lilo eyed him with curiosity, but as she caught his serious glance she dropped her eyes to stare at the floor:

"Uh, you know… I guess I was crying because I got hurt. You know, that rock was really hard and sharp…" she tried to explain, but it sounded lame even to her.

"Why Lilo was there?" Stitch asked, just realizing that it was more than a coincidence Lilo had been very close to where he had been with Angel. Almost immediately he noticed Lilo becoming nervous.

"Uh… well, I had gone out for a walk…" Lilo started. She didn't want to tell Stitch the truth because she didn't want him to think she was jealous, but she couldn't lie to her best friend either.

"Lilo crying because she saw Stitch and Angel together… ih?" Stitch sounded more as if he were affirming rather than asking. Lilo didn't look at him, but he saw her head nodding, confirming what he had thought.

"Kind of…" continued Lilo, her voice starting to crack. "You know? The way you were playing with Angel… that reminded me of when my parents and I used to play like that…"

Now her voice sounded totally cracked when she said the last four words. The tears stung on the back of her eyes, and she let them flow, feeling again that same total loss she had been feeling during the last two years.

Stitch closed to her and hugged her tightly, trying to comfort her with the best of him. He didn't like to see her crying, and it was even worse because he knew he had caused some part of the pain of his best friend when he spent the most of his time with Angel and left her alone.

Lilo cried on his shoulder, making wet spots on his fur as the tears fell from her cheeks. Stitch could do nothing but hold her tight on his arms. They remained some minutes like that: Lilo crying on Stitch's shoulder while hugging him and Stitch holding her while caressing her back to comfort her. Finally, Lilo got calm again and could stop her tears, but she kept hugging Stitch until she felt her eyelids getting heavier and fell asleep while she hugged him.

Stitch felt Lilo loosing her arms around him and pulled her away gently, then noticed she had already fallen asleep. He smiled as he stared at her face. Deep behind of that sad face was a very beautiful girl, the girl who had changed completely his life. He placed her on her bed and covered her with her blankets, and then he bent down to kiss her cheek. Instead of walking to his cot, he went to the lift and pressed the button that would carry him downstairs.

He lingered on the lift some seconds more until it reached the floor. He wanted to find Jumba, not only because he needed the medicine to heal Lilo, but because he wanted to tell his creator about Lilo too. He felt as if she really wanted them back, and well… he didn't like to see Lilo crying so often. It pierced his heart whenever she cried, and he needed to talk with someone who wasn't Lilo, and after all who could be better than Jumba?

"Be coming in…!" Jumba answered when he heard the knocks on the door. The door opened and Stitch came in, a worried expression on his face. "Ah, 626, it is being you. Jumba is about to find healing paste for Little Girl… Ha! What did I tell you? Here it is!"

Stitch looked around. It was clear that Jumba had been looking in the whole room, finally making a huge disorder only to look for the medicine for Lilo. Surely he would hear Pleakley some moments later yelling angrily at Jumba all because he had unmade all the perfect order in their room.

"Jumba? Lilo naga okay. Lilo is upset…" Stitch started, but Jumba interrupted him.

"I'm already knowing. With such a wound, who wouldn't be upset?"

"Not that. Lilo misses parents. She wants them back, and she cries because she misses them. Stitch hears Lilo talk asleep at night." Stitch dropped his ears as he talked, a hint of deep sadness remarking his voice.

"Oh… I'm understanding, 626…" Jumba said as he turned his head, paying total attention to Stitch this time.

"What can Stitch do? Stitch feels sad for Lilo…" Stitch whimpered. Jumba knelt down to be at Stitch's height and put his hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"Oh, do not be feeling sad, 626. I'm being sure Little Girl is just going through temporary depression, just like past years. Come on, 626, now get to Little Girl and give her the healing paste. Her harmed foot is needing it to get healed soon." He concluded as he patted Stitch's head. Stitch would have wanted to say something else, but how could he explain that he felt guilty too because he was leaving Lilo alone so often?

Sighing, he went out of the room. Just as he had thought, some seconds after he left, Pleakley entered the room. He could barely hear Pleakley shouting something about appreciation and Jumba saying something about the rights of an Evil Genius, but he didn't care. What he wanted was seeing Lilo happy again.

The lift reached the dome with a soft whirr, and Stitch, with the healing paste in his hand, approached Lilo. She was still asleep, her raven hair falling straight on her face as water would fall from a waterfall. She was breathing with difficulty because of the hair blocking the air from her nose. Stitch smiled at how pretty she was, and then lifted his paw to her face to take her silky hair off her face. Immediately, he noticed how she started to breath normally again.

However, his paw didn't move away from her angelic face. It lingered there, stroking the soft skin of her cheek. This girl was indeed beautiful, or at least she was to him. He couldn't understand why no boy had tried to get her affections when she was such a beautiful girl, not only physically, but inside: she was kind, sweet, she wasn't selfish, she was always there when somebody needed help… in conclusion, she was an angel.

Then he remembered what had happened barely an hour ago. Why had he felt that strange sensation when he had had her locked in his arms? Of course, he had always liked to hug Lilo, but this time it felt different. It had been a long time since he last had locked her in his arms for a hug, except for the hug of the last day. Then he had felt something strange as well, but this time that Lilo even touched his nose with hers, he had felt about to lose control over his body. All these things and new feelings were so confusing and yet felt so good…

Then he remembered the healing paste. He squeezed the little plastic container on his hand and a green-ish paste went out. He placed the paste on the wounded foot and massaged it for some seconds, not knowing exactly what he had to do. Then he looked up at Lilo's smiling face. She was still asleep, but smiling. Why? He didn't know, but he hoped she'd smile like that at least once during the coming days.

A crazy idea crossed his head, but he shook it off immediately. How could he…? He had learned that traveling in time and changing events would result as something that none wanted to happen. He went to his cot and drifted to Slumber-land, but even though he thought it was bad, something deep inside of him mused thoroughly about that possibility…

* * *

**Okay, what do you think of this? Please R&R!**


	5. Another nightmare

A/N: Sorry for the delaying! School has been pushing hard on us, so I had a lot of dificulties on getting this chapter done. Well, I had some kind of writer's block as well (the first one I've ever had), so I wanted it to pass until I felt better for writting and give you a nice chapter to read, and this is what came out. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 5_

_Another nightmare_

_-The evening sun was shining above the blue sea, making it give some golden glitters before the sun hid completely. Lilo opened her eyes at this sight. Even though she wished she could smile at this, she felt she couldn't. She didn't know where she was, she only knew she was on some unknown beach, and nothing known for her was around except for the Hawaiian sun and the blue water of the sea. She was lost._

"_What am I doing here?" she wondered. "Over all, __where__ am I?"_

_She stood up and started walking aimlessly, just trying to find something known for her, but as she walked, the beach seemed to get larger, almost infinite under her tan feet._

"_Hey, wait a minute… I'm walking! I thought I just hurt my foot last night… or was it last night?" She said aloud to herself as looking down at her formerly harmed foot, but it was as good as if nothing ever happened to it. She shrugged and kept walking on the soft sand, the infinite beach expanding ahead. Near the place there were ferns that indicated the limits of the beach to enter the forest, but whenever she tried to approach the forest it always seemed to go back._

_She walked yet for a long time. Time seemed to have frozen like ice. She couldn't really tell if she had been there for five hours or if she had been there only five minutes. Her feet didn't seem to get tired, and the sun was still above the sea, so she thought it might have been just a few minutes._

_Bored, she approached to the edge to get wet her feet, but as she entered the water she stopped there in shock. The water under her showed the reflection of a little girl of only six years old. Then, by first time, she noticed she was wearing that old red muumuu she only wore when she was little. She was surprised to find herself being again a little girl, and with total disbelief she touched her arms, legs and limbs, not believing it at all. She was again a six-year-old girl._

_She stayed there by some seconds yet, staring at her reflection on the wavy water, but soon something compelled her to lift her eyes to the horizon. Then she saw a little shape in the distance._

"_Stitch!"_

_Lilo ran forward to meet her best friend, but she only managed to get close enough to see his face. When she tried to get closer something seemed to pull her back, not allowing her to go close to Stitch._

"_Lilo!" Stitch shouted as well. He stretched his arms to reach Lilo, but something pulled him back, not letting him even touch Lilo either. His face showed he was getting desperate because he couldn't reach Lilo, and fear was starting to appear in his black eyes._

"_Stitch, I can't reach you!" Lilo shouted scared. Their hands were a few inches away from each other's, and the more they tried to take a grip on the other's hand, the more they seemed to get away._

_Lilo felt her eyes getting watery. She was about to cry because she couldn't reach Stitch, no matter how hard she tried. When she finally thought that she would never reach Stitch, she felt his furry arms around her shoulders as he hugged her. With total relief and joy she returned the hug, but then, all of sudden, the ground opened under them and both started to fall inside the big hole that had formed on the sand._

_Then Lilo felt a strong force pulling her up from the dark hole and saving her from falling inside, but when she looked down into the hole she could see that Stitch did fall in that hole, a loud plop and a groan coming out from the hole after he hit the bottom. Then she looked up to the one who had saved her from falling there, and when she did, her jaw almost dropped._

"_Dad? Dad, mom! You're alive!" Lilo shouted in joy as she hugged her parents. How was this possible? How could they be alive again? It was something she didn't know, but it brought total happiness to her._

_Her parents smiled lovingly at their daughter as they hugged her back and caressed her raven hair. "You wanted us to be here… and here we are."_

_Lilo tilted her head in confusion. She did remember she had wished her parents to be back with her, but she never thought it actually would come true… at least, she had them back, and nothing else mattered, but…_

"_Dad, mom, Stitch fell into that hole! We've got to take him out some way!" she exclaimed worriedly as she remembered her blue furred friend. She had forgotten that her parents didn't know who Stitch was, but they didn't questioned their daughter either, so Lilo didn't realize of her mistake. _

_However, by the time Lilo walked back to where she had last seen that hole, it had disappeared from the ground… along with Stitch. She looked everywhere for the big hole, but there was no sign of any hole there. She started to panic… where had Stitch gone?_

_Then, all of sudden, she noticed she wasn't anymore on the beach. Now she was on the dusty front yard of her house. She hurried to climb up the stairs to look for Stitch inside, but as she rushed inside, she noticed that something was different about her house. There were some missing things and there were other things she didn't quite remember. When she got to the corridor, she gasped in puzzlement. The lift wasn't there._

_Then she looked around her. This wasn't the house where she lived now. This was the old house, the one where Nani and she lived before they got Stitch… the one they had while her parents were still alive._

_She tried to remember where her former room had been when they had that house. It took her some seconds to remember her old room and then she ran upstairs, where Jumba and Pleakley's room had been before… or later?_

_The door opened with a slight crack as Lilo burst into it. She felt odd as she saw her old toys and stuff there, just as she remembered her room. Her bed was again a double-decker bed, the higher bed being Nani's old bed._

"_Lilo, dear, what's the big deal?" A voice came into the room. Lilo twirled her head to see her dad entering the room, his eyes showing curiosity._

"_I can't find Stitch!" Lilo's hurried reply went out as she bent down to look for Stitch under her bed. "No, he's not here either… where is he?"_

"_Who?" Her mom asked. She had just entered the room._

"_Stitch! My friend…I can't find him!" Lilo said as she looked up at her mom with concern. Then she remembered… her parents didn't know Stitch, or at least not in this strange dimension. Then she wondered if Nani could remember Stitch as well as herself could._

"_Nani!" she called as she rushed downstairs. She entered the living room and found her older sister lying on the carpet upon the wood floor, leaning over some notebooks and papers, probably her schoolwork._

"_What's up, Lilo?" Nani asked without withdrawing her eyes from her papers._

"_Nani, have you seen Stitch?" Lilo asked worriedly._

"_Who?"_

"_Stitch!"_

"_Lilo, I don't have time to look for your imaginary friends right now. I've got schoolwork to do!"_

"_But Nani…! Stitch is not an imaginary friend! He's real and he's a genetically engineered experiment from another galaxy who lives here along with Jumba and Pleakley and helped me to turn all of his cousins from bad to good and find the one true place where they belong!" Lilo exclaimed angrily as she folded her arms across her chest._

"_Wait, what?" Nani asked as she looked at Lilo with total disbelief and haste. "Lilo, I don't have time for this! I don't know who is Stitch nor Jumbo and Leakey."_

"_It's Jumba and Pleakley." Lilo corrected Nani, her impatience towards her sister growing bigger._

"_Whatever," Nani rolled her eyes. "I don't know who they are."_

"_How's that? You took me to the dog pound to adopt Stitch. You should at least remember him!"_

"_When did I take you to the dog pound to adopt a pet, huh? I'm not mom or your legal tutor to do what our parents would normally do, not even bringing you to adopt a pet!"_

"_But you ARE my legal tutor, and you DID bring me to the dog pound to adopt Stitch!" Lilo remarked the words with a motion of her arms._

"_Lilo, you lolo! I'm NOT your legal tutor! I would only be your legal tutor if both mom and dad died while you're still little, and I know that would never happen! I'm only wasting schoolwork time…"_

_Nani turned angrily to her notebooks and her papers again, trying to ignore the whole discussion and Lilo._

"_Fine! Then I'm going to look for him ALONE!" Lilo yelled at her sister as she walked to the door._

"_Don't stay outside when it gets dark!" Nani yelled back._

"_Why should I obey you? After all, you're not mom or my legal tutor to tell me what I have to do!"_

"_But I'm your older sister!"_

_Lilo didn't say anything again; she only stuck out her tongue at Nani and walked to the door. She didn't think for a moment about just forgetting Stitch and being happy with her old family again; after all, Stitch was part of her family as well, and whether having her parents or not, she would never forget of him. He was her Ohana, and he would always be, no matter what._

_Lilo took a grip on the doorknob, but before she could even twist it, the door was pushed away with such force that it was a miracle she only landed a bit harshly on the floor and didn't go flying against a wall. She rolled on the floor briefly before hitting against the wall, and then she lifted her head scared. The room was spinning before her eyes, and nothing would come into focus until some seconds more passed. A bit dizzy, her vision became clear again and she looked for the thing that had caused her to roll on the floor. She gasped in horror at the first thing her eyes could see clearly._

_There, in the floor, lay a dying Nani. Her blood was beginning to spread all over the wooden floor and some of it started to be absorbed by the carpet. She stood up and started to run to the side of her sister, but then she heard a deep growl coming from the ceiling._

"_Run… Lilo… don't let… it… kill you…" was the last thing Nani said before her last breath escaped from her lungs. She hadn't had time even for screaming when her attacker took her life away from her._

_Lilo felt her eyes stinging with the tears, but then she heard the deep growl again and some kind of bark from the ceiling. _

_She ran as fast as her short legs could carry her. She entered the corridor, wanting to get to her room, but it would always seem to get further, while the growls behind her seemed to get nearer. Her fear was so big that she didn't even dare to turn her head to look at her persecutor, whose growls and barking seemed to get nearer. Finally, she reached the stairs that would bring her to her room. She climbed them as fast as she could and burst into her room, closing the door noisily and locking it, though she had the feeling it would be to no avail._

"_Lilo, now what's up? We heard you and Nani yelling at each other. How many times have we told you two that discussing is not good?"_

_Lilo turned to see her mom approaching her with a slight severe look. She was glad that none of them were out of the room when that… thing entered the house and killed Nani. But then she was afraid again. Whatever that was, it had blown apart the entrance door, and now it was more than likely it would blow apart the door of her room as well… and in fact, it did._

_At first, she heard somebody scratching the door from the outside, then some angry growls and finally she saw the door being ripped apart from its hinges. She couldn't figure who was the one that had just burst into the room. Its face (if it had one) was darkened and its shape wasn't totally clear because of the dark place on the room it had chosen to be in. The only clear things were its glowing eyes… its hideous green eyes._

"_Who are you and what do you want?"_

_Lilo watched in horror as her dad stepped ahead bravely, challenging the being, but as soon as he had asked his question he was hit by what once had been the door of the room and crashed against the window, finally falling to a certain death._

"_KALE!" Her mom shouted in panic as she watched her husband falling from the window to the ground, some tears starting to run as streams from her beautiful brown eyes. _

_The monster laughed evilly at the murder it had just committed, and then its hideous green orbs turned to Lilo, shining with desire of killing._

"_No… I won't let you get to Lilo!" her mom shouted as she noticed it staring at Lilo and then got in the way between the monster and her little daughter. The monster growled as it came into the light and finally its face became clear, its glowing green eyes turning into black ebony. _

_Lilo felt her heart sink to her toes._

_It was Stitch._

_Stitch stared at the woman with sheer hate, a cold murderer look laid in his eyes as he watched her. He had all of his alien features out: his extra set of arms, his antennas, his spines… Lilo was scared by the look of his sharp claws and pointy spines, but what scared her the must about Stitch were his eyes… his hateful black eyes, looking at her with an insane glance, willing of having her on his hands to rip her from limb to limb._

_That wasn't her Stitch, the one who looked at her with warmth and love in his eyes, the one who used his tender claws to comfort her whenever she cried, but this was indeed a monster who looked at her with hate and coldness, who wanted to use his claws not to comfort her, but to cut through her skin and make her bleed. This was Experiment 626._

"_Stitch…"That was about all she could whisper under her breath. The shock was immense._

_626 growled as he stared at the woman, shielding her baby daughter from any attack he could try to do on her, and then stared at the girl, his eyes as cold as ice. Lilo gasped as she felt his glance on her. Even if he was a good four yards away from her, his very eyes made a cold chill run down her spine. How much worse would it be if she had him right ahead of her?_

_Slowly, the woman lifted the hula lamp from the night table, thinking on using it as some kind of made-up weapon to protect her daughter and herself against the blue furred monster._

_626 noticed the action of the woman and his faster-than-supercomputer mind made him react quickly. He took one of the various black records from the floor and tossed it to the woman's hand._

_Lilo watched how her mom's hand was hit by the edge of the record and how it started to bleed because of the cut it had made on her skin. She held her hand in pain and cried a bit, but then she remembered that her daughter was still endangered._

"_Lilo, run away! Get out of this house right now!" She ordered as she pointed to the exit door. Lilo did as she was told, her face starting to get pale with dread and fear of what might happen to her mom if she left her alone, but she managed to get out of her room._

_626 was about to finish off the young woman, but then he saw the little girl rushing out the room. He didn't only want to kill one of them, he wanted both. He tried to rush out to go after the girl, but then he felt his ankle being grabbed securely, making him fall onto the floor. Then he looked down to see Lani grabbing his ankle and stopping him from going after her daughter, a scared, yet triumphant smile marking her face._

"_Oh no… you won't. You'll have me dead first before my baby is in your hands…" she said defiantly._

"_Emba chua…" 626 muttered darkly, his murderer eyes colder than ever. Then his paw reached for her throat and he took a firm grip on her neck._

_Lani thought he was going to strangle her, but she was surprised when she felt 626 grabbing her out of the room. She wondered panicked what he was going to do to her. 626 snarled as he held the woman above the floor, sickeningly enjoying the panicked expression on her eyes, and then he approached the stairs hand-rail. Then she knew what was going to happen to her._

_626 smirked evilly one last time at her, and then he tossed her downstairs coldly. Her body hit several times the stairs as she descended violently, and finally, her nape hit against the last of the steps, a slight crack being heard when she did. Her eyes went blank and then she closed them. Some blood oozed from her nape and neck as she gave her last breath and then she passed away._

_626 just had to wait a split of second before he heard a gasp and a soft cry, undetectable for human ears. Unfortunately, his hearing was a lot better than any human's. He knew this was going to happen when he killed the woman. _

_Now he knew where the girl was._

_He jumped off the stairs rail, landing on his feet perfectly unharmed. Then he went to the living room. There was still the body of the older girl he had killed first, but there was not a sign of the younger one. Then he started sniffing the room, trying to catch her aroma. Slowly, his nose and feet carried him to the kitchen. _

_He smirked as the aroma grew more noticeable, and then he walked to the sinker. Under it, there was a little curtain that shielded the inside from the entire room, and he walked right to where the curtain was. He could practically hear the accelerated beat of the girl's heart behind that curtain, and he could smell the fear she was feeling in that very moment. His paw reached slowly for the fabric, wanting to enjoy every second of his prey's fearful eyes, and with a quick motion, he ripped off the cloth. _

_Much to his surprise and anger, there wasn't the girl._

_He entered that little gap under the sinker, looking for her. She couldn't just have escaped without him seeing her going out. Then he heard the sound of a door cracking as it was opened, then a gasp and then he heard the door closing noisily. Then he saw a little hole on the wood, big enough to allow the girl go through it and get out by the little doors of the same furniture. _

_He growled furiously as he realized that the girl had escaped by that hole and going out by another exit, all in a split of second. As he exited the gap, he saw two little blue sandals lying on the floor. Surely, the girl had taken them off so he couldn't hear her when she escaped. He had been too busy trying to find her, so he hadn't heard her when she went out._

_He realized of it all in a split of second, the ideas going through his faster-than-a-supercomputer-mind as a lightning. He snarled one last time furiously before going out the house as well, now starting the chase of his prey._

_Lilo breathed swiftly as she ran off the little cliff where her house was. She had to find some secure place to hide from her former best friend if she wanted to keep herself alive. Some tears went out of her eyes as she thought of her parents and sister. They hadn't had that luck to make it. Why Stitch had changed so quickly? What had made him turn from a loving friend to a cold-blooded murderer? Those questions made her eyes sting with more tears, but she knew she had to keep them back to keep her life._

_Her feet jumped swiftly the rocks on the little stream to get to the other edge. There she should be safe, on the tree house her dad had made for her and Nani some time ago. She climbed the steps as fast as she could, and when she got to the top, she dropped herself on the wooden floor, hoping she would be safe there… but what she didn't know was that she had already been sighted. _

_Soon, she heard the wood of the stairs cracking as somebody climbed up. She felt time freezing, as well as her heart. She hoped lamely it would be somebody who had already come to help her, but when she saw a blue paw appearing on the edge, she knew there wasn't any hope now. A Hawaiian little girl with raven hair and chocolate eyes would die that day by the hands of her former best friend… she hugged her knees and hid her face between her tan arms, not wanting to see those cold eyes again._

_626 smirked viciously as he saw the little girl ahead. Now he knew she wouldn't be able to escape him, not even with a miracle. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her up roughly to see her panicked eyes… the part he enjoyed the most before killing his victims. She lowered her head as soon as he lifted her, so he took roughly her chin with his hard, cold hand and made her look at him, and just as he expected, her eyes were full with not only fear, but with dread as well._

_Lilo looked at him; her heart broke as she realized what he was going to do to her within some seconds… her brain shot lots and lots of questions, none of them being able to be answered by her confused mind. Why did he hurt? Why did he kill? Why did he change, over all? And now why did he want to kill her as well?_

"_Stitch, why?" She could utter these words as she looked at him. But she forgot that this monster wasn't Stitch, but it was Experiment 626… the destroying machine._

_626 looked at her with sheer hate in his eyes. This was too much for Lilo to take. She let the tears fully flow, making wet her tan skin and her flushed cheeks._

"_Why are you doing this, Stitch? Why do you want to hurt me? What about Ohana?" The questions went out of her mouth in short intervals as she wept. "Please, don't do this… I know there's good inside of you… and I still love you."_

_626's face changed for a split of second, as though he understood her words… but the fact that he understood what she had said didn't mean that he was going to stop from doing any harm to her, so he grabbed her by the neck and prepared his claws to cut through her throat._

_Lilo closed her eyes. She knew that her words hadn't really done anything, and she finally understood that Stitch no longer existed. Now there was only Experiment 626, who didn't seem to have any good inside of him._

_The last thing she felt was a sensation of a sharp knife cutting through her neck, and then nothing…_

_Lilo was dead._

"AAAAHHHHH!"

Lilo fell from her bed after she screamed. She rubbed her head as she sat up on the floor. Everything was dark on the room, so she couldn't see a thing when she realized she was on the dome.

"Lilo!"

The lights turned on, hurting her eyes momentarily, and then she felt somebody taking her hand, undoubtedly Stitch. When her eyes got used to the light, she could see Stitch kneeling beside her and stroking her hand, confirming what she had guessed some seconds ago.

"Uh, Stitch? What's happening?" She asked, her voice sounding drowsy and confused.

"Isaka what Stitch wants to know." he replied, pulling her up from the floor and helping her to get to her bed.

"I don't know. I think I had a nightmare." Lilo said as she sat on her bed, trying to get some memory about her nightmare.

"Wanna talk about it?" Stitch asked, sitting down on her bed as well, ready to listen to anything that his friend would want to tell him.

"I don't remember a thing about it… I know it was horrible, but I don't remember what I was dreaming about." Lilo replied and then rubbed her head. "Guess that hit made me forget about my nightmare… I'm not sure."

"It be okay… everything will be okey-dokey." Stitch smiled reassuringly as he hugged her tightly, as if trying to make her forget about everything.

"Yeah… I know it'll be." Lilo beamed as she hugged him back, enjoying the feeling of his soft fur stroking her face. They remained hugging by some more seconds before Stitch pulled away. He missed immediately the sensation of having her warm body locked in his arms, but he ignored it and smiled at her, slightly blushing as he stared into her eyes.

"Lilo going to sleep well?" He asked, trying to get rid of the awkward silence after they hugged.

"I'm not really sure… I know there was something about my dream that is important, but I just cannot remember a thing about it."

"Maybe you need warm milk." Stitch suggested, and then he jumped off the bed, as if encouraging her to go out as well and have some milk downstairs. Lilo shrugged unsurely.

"I don't really think that a glass full with warm milk will calm me down… I think I need something else." She thought some seconds and then she smiled. "What about a hike?"

"Right now?" Stitch looked at her a bit confused. Lilo looked at the clock: it was 3 o'clock in the morning.

"Well, why not? We always walk by days, but it's not very often at nights. It'd calm me down quite a bit. Besides, it must be fun to walk in the moonshine… a bit corny, I know, but I'd like it."

"Okay. If Lilo likes it, then Stitch likes it too." Stitch smiled at Lilo and then grabbed her hand, hurrying her to get in the lift so they could start their night walk.

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A/N: There's a part on the chapter where Stitch (mentioned there as 626) says 'Emba chua'... sorry, I didn't write the translation for that part and I'm too lazy to look for that part and write the translation right there, so it means 'you said it'... just in case you didn't know or if it's hard for you to remember what Stitch says on the show.

Originally, this chapter was going to be a LOT larger, but I realized it would be too much for a single chapter, so I cut part of it and only let this. Stitch is starting to develop certain feelings for Lilo, as you might've noticed from past chapters D hope I'm not making it too rushed. If I am, please tell me.

I don't think school will be nice with us this year, so most likely is I will be sending a chapter every two weeks and not every week as I had thought at first, so please be patient and don't get desperate. Also I'm working on several oneshots I've thought about, and before I forget about them I'll write at least a bit of each one so when I get more time I can continue them.

**Well, guess that's all, by now. Please R&R!**


	6. Encountered feelings

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 6_

_Encountered feelings_

Both of them were careful on not waking up anyone as they made their way out, and finally, when they were out, they let out a sigh of relief. Lilo realized until then that she had her pajamas on, but she didn't really care. Who else would be taking a hike at 3 o'clock in the morning, after all? Besides, she was with Stitch, her best friend and somebody she could put her trust on. They walked under the twinkling stars, on a dusty path that seemed white because of the moonlight, shining bright and beautiful up there. They were making their way to the beach.

They didn't say a word while they were walking. They just stared at their surroundings and the sky, enjoying everything: the cool night breeze, the sound of the crickets singing, the aromas that the night flowers let out… and over all, the beautiful moon in the navy blue sky; both of them were as well enjoying the feeling of the cool dust under their feet. Lilo had forgotten to put some sandals on, so she was walking barefoot, and Stitch did never really use shoes, except of when he needed to use his Kenny disguise. Once more, at least for some moments, there was no Angel or anybody else. The only one who existed and mattered for each other were themselves, just like the old times.

From time to time, Stitch would lift his eyes to stare at Lilo, who walked calmly by his side. He couldn't help, obliviously of course, to think that the moonshine made her look extremely beautiful: her raven hair shone brightly as it reflected the moon, and her face had gained an angelic gleam because of the same moon. Her large aqua nightgown had acquired a bright white color, making her look even more like an angel.

_She's so beautiful,_ he thought, lost on that angelic vision, but quickly regained his composure as he stumbled with a thick branch ahead. Lilo giggled a bit and he blushed, realizing he had got a bit lost in her beauty… maybe a bit too much.

Finally, they reached the beach. The sight was gorgeous and spectacular. The usual golden sand was now a silver white under the moonshine, and the normally blue ocean was now an ebony color, reflecting the moon and the stars on it; the waves were coming to and fro, dancing softly on the white sand and making a soft rhythmical sound, like a sea lullaby.

They found a fallen log, and sat down there, using it as a seat. Near of that log, there was a bush of beautiful night flowers. The aroma was delicious. Stitch stared at the flowers for some moments and then brought back his eyes to Lilo. That was when he realized that he had never let go of her hand since he grabbed her out of their room. He dropped it swiftly, his cheeks turning a bright magenta as he apologized silently.

Lilo smiled at her friend's blush and then hugged him and kissed the top of his head, causing old feelings inside Stitch to wake up and make him blush even harder. He felt the urge to hug her back, which he did. He brought his strong arms around her shoulders, shielding her from the cool night breeze, while Lilo cuddled herself against the warm fur of his chest, making him rest his chin on top of her head. They remained glued like this for some moments before Lilo pulled away Stitch and looked at him worriedly.

"Lilo, what wrong?" Stitch asked concerned. Lilo dropped her eyes to the silver sand.

"Stitch, that dream I had… I know it was about something bad and that it freaked me out, but when I woke up, I just forgot my dream… I can't remember what it was about. I'm worried. I know it was something important, but I just can't remember anything… what if it was something really important? What if it was some kind of advice? What if… what if it comes true?"

"Naga… is only dream… very bad dream, but it not going to come true. Naga… everything be okey-dokey. Even- if it comes true, Stitch be there to protect Lilo… ih. Stitch no let anything bad happen to Lilo." Stitch whispered as he brought Lilo back to the comfort of his arms.

"You promise?" Lilo looked up to her friend, staring right at his eyes. Stitch nodded.

"Promise. Stitch be there for Lilo always."

"Thanks, Stitch." Lilo said as Stitch obliviously tightened his grip around her. She giggled a bit. "Stitch, is there something you need to protect me from right now?"

Stitch looked down at her, an inquiring look on his eyes. "Why?"

"Because you're hugging me so tight that you make me think there's something you want to protect me from…" Lilo giggled again.

Stitch widened his eyes in realization and blushed hardly under his fur. "Whoops… Stitch sorry." He said as he tried to let go of Lilo.

"It's okay, Stitch." Lilo said as she cuddled against Stitch again, making him to stop doing what he wanted to do at first. "I was only joking. It's just that you had never hugged me this tight. In fact, I think you only hugged Angel this way."

Stitch's heart stopped when Lilo reminded him of Angel. This time, he did let go of Lilo. His arms untied from her shoulders and went back to his lap. He had completely forgotten of Angel. That was true; he had been hugging Lilo just in the same way he used to hug Angel. That fact made him feel a sting of guilt… again, his head shot at him the same question:_ "Are you cheating on Angel if you act this way around Lilo?"_

_No… I'm not cheating on Angel. She's my boojibu, and Lilo is just my best friend. I can hug her as well, and that's not bad because we have hugged since we're little. The one I truly love is Angel_,he thought firmly and then he decided to take Lilo in his arms again, but then another thought assaulted his mind.

_That's true. You and Lilo have hugged since you were little, but then you didn't feel this way around her. Years later you left Lilo alone and started to spend most of your time with Angel because you were starting to get feelings around Lilo, but you were too afraid to face it… besides, if you truly love Angel as much as you think, then why didn't you just moved in with her when she asked it? It was because you didn't want to be far away from Lilo! Then are you still in love with Angel, or you're feeling something about Lilo but keep dating Angel because you feel obligated to do so?_

Lilo regretted almost immediately she had mentioned Angel. She missed terribly Stitch having his arms around her shoulders to comfort her, but she wouldn't tell that to Stitch. She knew that Stitch and Angel were still together, and the fact that she had cuddled against Stitch to keep him hugging her made her feel a bit guilty as well. Stitch was supposed now to have Angel in his arms, not her. Even though she firmly believed that Stitch and Angel were meant to be together, the simple thought of Angel being in Stitch's arms pained her. How much pain their relationship had brought to her! She had been abandoned since Stitch started to spend the most of his time with Angel… once more abandoned. Tears started to gather at the edge of her eyes, but she stopped them before Stitch could see them.

"Those stars are beautiful, aren't they?" She asked, more to herself than to Stitch. She felt the urge of bringing her head to Stitch's shoulder, but she fought it back and instead hugged her knees. Stitch broke out of his thoughts when he heard Lilo's voice and then looked up to the little stars, twinkling gorgeously on the night sky like little fireflies. He nodded in agreement.

"Ih… they beautiful." He smiled lightly and then chuckled as another thought came to his mind: _Though they're not as beautiful as you are_. He shook his head. _Where'd that come from? Oh well, it doesn't matter…after all, we're only friends. No more, no less. If Angel was here, I would have said something a lot better than that, _he assured himself, though he wasn't really sure of that.

"I wonder which ones are my parents' stars." Lilo talked once more as she lay down on the white sand, looking up to the stars. "Mom told me once that when people die, their souls go up to the sky and then light up, and that those lights are the stars we see at night. Even though that's something that doesn't make too much sense, I like to think that they turned into stars after they died. That makes me feel as if they were still with me."

Stitch didn't say anything. He left the log he was sitting on and lay down on the sand, next to Lilo. Lilo almost gasped when she felt Stitch arms going around her as he hugged her again. That sensation of loneliness that had been filling her some moments ago was now completely gone.

After some minutes of complete silence, Stitch heard her breathing slow down and felt her totally limp. He looked at her face and saw she had fallen asleep. He thought on carrying her home, but his eyelids were starting to feel heavy as well. Soon, he stretched on the sand and gave up, finally falling asleep as well with Lilo in his arms and the starry sky above them, thinking that they were only friends and that there was nothing wrong about hugging her just like the old times…

Lilo opened her eyes as the sun stroked her face. She rubbed them so she could get back her vision, and when she was done, she realized she was in the dome.

She remembered she had fallen asleep at the beach, with Stitch beside her and having his arms around her. She wondered briefly why she was there instead of the beach, but she concluded that Stitch must have carried her home after she fell asleep.

She turned on her bed and saw on the clock that it was barely 7:10 in the morning.

Then her eyes went to the cot. Stitch was there, snoring softly. It seemed as if he had just fallen asleep, so he must have carried her home a few minutes ago.

She tried to fall asleep again, but no success. She huffed groggily and then sat up on her bed, trying to decide what to do. After some brief seconds, she stood up and took off her pajamas to put on some decent clothes for the rest of the day. At least she didn't feel as depressed as the last two days.

Soon, she was downstairs, pouring some milk on her cereal bowl. Her stomach was growling loudly now, and after all it was normal: the last meal she had had was that dinner she had with Chris last day.

It was kind of funny to think how many things had happened in a single night: first, she met this boy Chris and befriended him quickly, then she hurt her foot, had her nightmare, took that hike at three o'clock in the morning and fell asleep on the sand of the beach with Stitch beside her.

She looked down at her foot. It was as good as new. Jumba must have done something while she had been asleep.

Then she remembered Chris again and remembered as well the meeting they had planned for today. She struggled to remember… what time had they settled for their meeting?

_Nine o' clock… yeah, I think it was that, _she finally remembered. She looked at the little clock hanging on the wall. Now it read 7:40 a.m., so she had plenty of time before going to meet Chris again.

She brought her bowl of cereal to the living room and placed it on the little table ahead. Then she turned on the TV and watched it until 8:30 a.m., when she turned it off and went up to the dome to take her swimsuit, surfboard and backpack out.

Once she had them and was about to enter the lift again to leave, she looked at Stitch. She thought on waking him up and bringing him to meet Chris, but then another thought crossed her head: maybe he had plans with Angel today. A sting of pain went to her chest. She had spent such a nice time with Stitch earlier that she had kind of forgotten that he had a girlfriend. She looked at him with slight disappointment and hurt and then went downstairs to start making her way to the beach.

The morning was perfect. The soft breeze was starting to wake up all of her senses as it caressed her large ebony hair. The sun was beginning to send its firsts gleams over the Hawaiian paradise and the birds began to sing as they woke up to the beautiful morning. Everything was perfect. Soon, her feet were already touching the sandy ground of the beach where they had agreed to meet again. She looked around… there wasn't any sing of Chris yet. She decided to put her swimsuit on while Chris got there as well and then made her way to a near lobby to change clothes.

When she got out, she observed all of the tourists that had come to enjoy the first hours of the morning at the beach. There was even the fat tourist that always carried his ice cream in his hand before something bad happened and the ice cream fell to the ground. Man, does that guy have money to be vacationing for so long in there! She smiled a bit, but just as she expected, Chris wasn't there yet. She looked down at a digital clock lying on an extended towel on the sand. It was 9:15. Maybe Christ had forgotten about their meeting?

Suddenly, her vision went black as two hands covered her eyes. She gasped in surprise, but kept back the shriek that had been about to go out her mouth. She withdrew the pair of hands from her eyes swiftly and turned to see who had scared her. The accelerated beat of her heart slowed down when she saw who it was.

"Did I scare you?"

Lilo gave a small smile.

"Not at all… you know? I've been having some surprises like this lately, so I think I'm just getting used to being surprised almost to death. Well, are you ready?"

"I'm always ready." He replied. Lilo nodded as she took her surfboard and trotted to the moist edge of the water. He sighed contently and followed her to the water. Today was going to be a very, very long day…

Stitch moaned woozily as he turned on his cot. His woozy mind tried to detect what was that thing that didn't let him have some sleep, and as he woke up to the real world, he could guess it was the alarm clock, beeping noisily as if demanding him to abandon his warm bed. The moan of protest in his throat turned into a deep growl of annoyance as the alarm kept buzzing and beeping on the night table, insisting in making him awoken.

He turned on his side and covered his head with the huge white pillow, but he could still hear the obnoxious sound of the alarm, persevering in waking him up and snatching him away from his sleep and cot. He briefly cursed in Turian his super-hearing sense and turned on his other side, unsuccessfully trying to ignore the noise.

Finally, his already little bit of patience came to its end and he jumped off his cot, ready to get rid of that irking device.

There was a last growl of slight anger and a crash.

"Stitch! You didn't break ANOTHER alarm clock, did you?"

Stitch cringed as he heard Nani's menacing voice from the kitchen. Blitznac, even if she wasn't an experiment, Stitch would've sworn that she had super-hearing sense. He had thought that nobody would hear him crashing the alarm clock, but she did…

"Naga! Stitch only playing Wasp Mummies! Naga breaking stuff!" Stitch lied. Last time he had crashed the alarm clock against the wall, Nani punished him by not letting him have any coffee and coconut cake for a whole week. He still didn't know how he had managed to survive without his precious coconut cake or his beloved coffee, but he sure didn't want to go through that awful experience again. Besides, he knew how dangerous was to disobey Nani…

"Okay, I'm coming to make sure everything is okay!"

Stitch gasped as he heard that. Nani was coming!

"I'd bet he crashed again the alarm clock." Nani murmured to herself as she pressed the button that would bring her up, but it didn't move. She huffed annoyed. "Stitch! Get the lock OFF!"

A faint click was heard, and then Nani knew she could get the lift working again, so she pressed again the button and this time, it started lifting to the dome. She started to prepare herself for the undoubted sight of the alarm clock lying shattered on the floor, but she was actually taken aback when she did not see even a little piece of anything on the floor.

She lifted her eyes to look suspiciously at Stitch, who just smiled innocently at her. She looked then at the black devise on the night table. She looked again at Stitch, but this time she could notice a very small spot of his forehead getting moist because of some sweat.

Well, this sure meant something…

She started walking to the night table, slowly at first to catch any change on Stitch's face. Stitch felt his muscles going cramped as Nani approached more the alarm clock… she was going to find out.

Then, as if his prayers were answered, a strong aroma came from downstairs… a very well-known aroma for everyone in the Pelekai house, because that aroma could only mean that either Nani or Pleakley had forgotten something upon the stove.

Nani smelled the stench for some seconds before recognizing it, and then a shriek escaped her throat.

"Oh, my… THE HOT-CAKES!"

She hurried to the lift, completely forgetting about the alarm clock or her determination to catch Stitch lying. She had been so annoyed by the thought of Stitch breaking another alarm clock that she forgot she had left on the fire the pan.

Just as Nani got down, Stitch let out a relieved sigh and dropped on his cot. He looked then at the alarm clock, noticing that his saliva was starting to lose all glue-like effect on it. At least he had been smart enough to eat the little pieces that couldn't be glued so Nani didn't catch him, but… boy! That had been a good fright.

He chuckled nervously. He would ask Jumba later to replace the pieces he had eaten and repair the alarm clock. Sure, he could do it all by himself, but he was too lazy just to do it and surely he wouldn't get enough time to fix it even if he wanted to… Angel had him really busy at times.

Inexplicably, the simple thought of Angel brought Lilo to his mind as well, but when he thought of Lilo, his mind practically disconnected from the real world to be in some kind of dreaming-awake state, something that had only happened when he first met Angel.

He could see her sweet face ahead of his, smiling beautifully at him with that lovable smile of hers and her gorgeous chocolate eyes staring right into his black ones. It was then when he looked into her eyes that he realized of how close she was to him… too close, maybe. He had his arms wrapped around her back and she had her hands resting on his chest. His mind screamed to him to get away from her, but he just shut off his thoughts and looked deeper into her eyes, glistening with a spark very much alike to the spark that appeared when she used to talk about Keoni… but this spark seemed to be more intense than the first one. Slowly, his eyes went down to her lips. Obliviously, his eyes started to close and he bent his head forward to meet hers…

He was suddenly snapped back to the real world when he realized that he had been holding and kissing his own pillow. He spitted out some of the fuzz that had gotten into his mouth and tossed away his pillow.

_What in the blitznac world just happened? Why am I hallucinating? And over all, why was it about KISSING LILO?" _His mind screamed out at him. He rubbed his eyes in confusion. He had never, ever had any kind of delusion like this one, and of course he had never thought of kissing Lilo that way!

"Okay, I've got to stop drinking fifteen mugs of coffee before going bed," he started to say to himself, all in Turian. "It seems like caffeine is starting to make my mind hyper too!"

He jumped off his cot. He wasn't really sure if it had been the caffeine… but he preferred to think it had been the cause of his illusion. He didn't want to think it had been something more than just that… it made him afraid.

Then he realized by first time that Lilo's bed was empty. He started wondering why, feeling thankful that she hadn't been there to see him kissing his pillow, but feeling as well a slight sensation of lose. He didn't muse a lot about it, though. He had just gone downstairs and was now walking to the kitchen when he felt a hand grabbing him by the wrist. He lamely hoped it would be Lilo, but much to his surprise, all he felt was disappointment when he saw Angel's face instead of Lilo's, but he knew how to hide his sudden disenchantment and smiled at Angel.

"Aloha, Angel!" He cried as he hugged her briefly. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Angel mocked an irked face. "What? Can't I come over to visit my boyfriend?"

Stitch cringed slightly when he heard her calling him "boyfriend". He felt uncomfortable all of sudden just because of that simple fact.

"Uh, yeah?" He said lamely, but decided to change the subject of the talk. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Well, you know that today is Kokaua Town's festival, right?"

Stitch nodded knowingly "Yeah, so what?"

Angel's eyes glistened as she talked. "Well, I was thinking if we could go over and have some fun together… you know, ride in some attractions and buy all kind of food. Doesn't it seem fun to you?"

Stitch's mind went back to when he went by first time to a festival. He had gone with Lilo, and sure it had been fun having her by his side. Now, for some strange reason, he felt as if something would be missing if he went with Angel… he didn't know what, just something…

"Uh, yeah, of course." He replied tonelessly, but Angel was getting too excited to notice his downcast tone.

"Great! Go get your Kenny disguise. I already brought mine along." She said as she took out from her backpack a violet skirt, a pink top, a pair of tennis and sunglasses. She didn't need a wig; people always thought that her antennas were two large pony tails… weird pink pony tails, but after all, pony tails. She still couldn't believe how silly people can be.

Stitch then trotted back to the lift. He looked briefly at the clock hanging in the kitchen wall. 2:00 pm. He sighed. Today was going to be a very, very long day…

Lilo screamed with delight as the huge wave fell upon her and Chris. She loved to get caught by the waves. She remained some seconds under the water, and then went out for her surfboard and see where Chris had gone.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked as she observed him emerging from the crystalline water. Chris laughed amused.

"That was fun! I never learned how to get caught by a wave without being almost drowned in California! It was horrible whenever it happened, trust me." He laughed a bit more and then swam towards Lilo.

"And that's just the beginning! You still have lots of things to learn!" Lilo assured as she climbed up to her surfboard. Chris climbed up onto his surfboard as well and then followed Lilo back into the sea, but then an idea crossed his mind.

"Hey Lilo!" He started. Lilo whirled her head and then he continued. "What about going for lunch? I'm starving!"

Lilo smiled at him, making his heart melt. "Sure! But this time, it'll be my deal."

An hour later, both Chris and Lilo had already finished with their meals and were now talking calmly. Lilo had noticed once more that Chris had never stopped staring at her while they waited for their food, but this time she could almost feel comfortable.

Chris led the conversation during the last minutes. Lilo could sense there was something he wanted, but she couldn't figure it out, so she just waited patiently until he decided to talk. Finally, after talking about lots of non-important things, Chris lifted his eyes to look at Lilo.

"Uh, Lilo… you know today's Kokaua Town's festival?" He asked timidly. Lilo nodded, but very inside of her she had already guessed what he was going to ask for.

"Yeah, why?"

Chris seemed to get even more nervous. "Well… I-I w-was won-wondering… would you like to go?"

Lilo's eyes widened with surprise. "Are you asking me in a date?"

Chris blushed deeply at her question, but managed to reply. "Well, it's just that… you know, I'm new around here and I'm just asking someone who knows this place very well to go with me to show me everything that is good about this place… then, would you like to go… with me?"

Lilo stared at him intently, trying to catch his eyes, but he dropped them as he waited for an answer.

"Well… why not?" She finally said. "Just let me change into my normal clothes. I wouldn't like to go there all showy!"

Chris nodded approvingly. "Then I'll wait for you here… take your time."

Lilo smiled one last time before heading to the lobbies. When she was far enough, Chris sighed relieved and then a big smile came to his face. "She said yes!"

"Angel, I told you it wasn't a good idea eating five hot-dogs before riding 'The Gut Twister'!"

A very bored, yet concerned Stitch waited outside of the ladies' restroom. From inside, he could only hear Angel throwing up all of the food she had eaten before climbing into that horrible attraction. Even he had got a bit dizzy, but at least he had decided not to eat a thing… unlike to Angel.

He knocked once more at the door. "Angel, is everything okay in there?"

"Ugh… yeah! Don't worry about me! I'm just fi-" he heard from inside before hearing again the horrible sound of you know what.

He sighed again and then leaned over a near palm three. His eyes went lazily to the huge leaves above him. He let his eyes wander everywhere until they caught a sight that got his full attention. Not so far away, there was a girl that looked almost like her. He got more alerted and started sniffing the air, looking for that single aroma he knew so well… it _was_ her.

A feeling of sheer happiness overwhelmed him. He was about to run off to meet Lilo, but then he remembered Angel. He asked hastily if she was okay, receiving as a reply the same obnoxious noises, so he decided it wouldn't be too bad if he left Angel only for a while to say hi to his best friend.

He was so happy of seeing her again that he almost forgot he was wearing his Kenny disguise and that he had to behave as human as possible, but managed to control himself. Just when he was about to reach her and call her name, he saw a boy approach her smiling and hand her an ice cream, and then observed how she smiled back at him.

He stopped all of sudden. Who is this boy and what is he doing with _HIS_ Lilo?

* * *

**Uh- oh, Chris is soon gonna meet Stitch and his best friend, Mr. Knuckles xD Nah, just kidding...**

**Please R&R!**


	7. Solution

Ok... here's the next chapter. Sorry if I delayed with this one, but I've been really busy at school and at home. I hope I get some free time on vacation. Hope you all like it and thanks for all of your reviews!

* * *

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 7_

_Solution_

"I finally got our ice creams!"

Chris grinned as he handed Lilo the little cone with the icy substance on it. Lilo returned the smile thankfully

"Thanks a lot, Chris. It was starting to get very hot!"

"If you mean you were starting to get hot, then I can definitely agree with you."

"Uh, okay?" Lilo asked as she looked up at him with surprise. "I'm not precisely what people can call a beautiful girl… not even a pretty one!"

"Well, then you've been living tricked your whole life, Lilo. You're not just pretty. You're beautiful." Chris said as he put an arm around the girl.

Stitch growled as he heard the flattering remark from the boy. Who was he? What did he want with Lilo, over all? He stretched his head over the trashcan that was behind the two human friends. He didn't like the way he looked at Lilo, the way he touched her, the way he smiled at her… blitznac, he just didn't like the boy! Suddenly, he felt the urge of jumping out of his hiding place and take Lilo home, not just far, but VERY far away from that boy.

"_No Stitch… control yourself. Maybe he's just teasing her… HEY, I don't like that either! I'm gonna tear that boy… grr, no, wait. Keep your head on, keep your head on. They just must be friends… yeah, that's it… they're just very good friends… VERY loving friends, by the way. Grr! I'm SO GONNA…! Blitznac, I can't do a thing to the boy! Even if I want to, it would put me into a huge problem… just let's see what happens… if he gets way TOO close to Lilo, then we'll see how he dares to… just keep your head on, blitznac!"_

"-Uh, hey! What about climbing into the Ferris Wheel?" Lilo suggested swiftly as she escaped from Chris' arm. She had just noticed that he had been holding her by the shoulders…she was just feeling uncomfortable about it.

"Okay. C'mon, let's go," Chris agreed as they started to walk away. Stitch then hurried to follow them. He was going to make sure that this boy wouldn't try to get too affective with Lilo.

The Ferris Wheel wasn't too full. In fact, there were only three couples of lovebirds that had just gone down of the attraction. _"Perfect…" _Chris thought: _"This will set the perfect kind of mood… Now all there's left to do is wait for her answer…"_

Lilo had walked beside Chris all the way quietly, saying no word. She was thankful to break that awkward silence when Chris asked the man to let them in, but then she got nervous again when she noticed how few people were going to climb next. They were going to be the only ones climbing the fortune wheel, in fact.

"Lilo?"

Lilo whirled her head when she heard Chris calling her name. She smiled nervously and followed him. Just when they were starting to lift, she heard the voice of the man that had let them in.

"Hey pal! Wait 'til this ride is ova'!"

However, she was too submerged in her thoughts to listen more intently or even whirl her head to look at the cause of the man's annoyance. If she had even looked down, she would have seen that they weren't the only ones riding the attraction now.

A blue paw reached for the steel seat and then took impulse to jump and bring the owner of the paw up, whose seat remained right behind of the two friends'.

Stitch gazed vigilantly at the two humans, especially at the boy. He wanted to make sure everything was going to be okay… which meant that the boy was not laying a finger on Lilo.

As their seat lifted more in the air, Lilo looked at the land down of them, and then her eyes went to the sun, hiding behind the ocean. The sky looked gorgeous; it had a mixture of pink, orange and blue shades, and everything around seemed to have gotten a golden glitter because of the hiding sun. She sighed. Her mom used to love at the countryside when the sun was hiding because it always reminded her of when she and her dad had first shared a kiss…

A warm hand reached for hers. She turned abruptly her head when she felt it as her hand immediately escaped to the affectionate contact. She had been taken aback for sure. Chris smiled at her:

"Everything's okay?"

She dropped her head for some seconds. She couldn't really tell if she was okay… she had just started to remember her mom and her dad, but it sure meant that she was starting to get nostalgic again…

"Yeah, I'm okay." She said. Even though it wasn't completely true, Chris didn't notice it. Lilo knew it because he hadn't said anything else about it again.

"_If I had said that to Stitch, he wouldn't have believed me. He sure would have realized that I wasn't totally okay…" _she thought to herself, realizing obliviously of how close she had grown to Stitch during all those years of friendship. Each one could tell when the other was lying or trying to hide something… she even could now understand him when he talked about anything in Turian. Just when her thoughts had started to move to Stitch, Chris started to speak again.

"Lilo? Uh… there's something I wanna ask you…"

Lilo whirled again her head to look at him. This time, she realized that the fortune wheel had stopped since long ago… maybe just a few minutes ago, but for someone that has been lost in thoughts it would have been a long time anyway.

"Yeah? What is it?" She asked untroubled. Unlike to her, Chris seemed to get more nervous as the seconds went by.

"Well… Lilo… I know I haven't known you for long, but even so… I've been… thinking about some things… and… and… would you… want to be… more than friends… with me?"

Lilo almost fell from her seat to the ground when she heard that. "Chris, what do you exactly mean?"

"Lilo… willyoupleasebemygirlfriend?" Chris blurted so fast that Lilo couldn't understand what he had just said.

"Uh, sorry Chris, I couldn't get it. What did you say?"

"I said… will you please…?"

Then the Ferris Wheel started moving again, lowering Lilo and Chris until they were able to climb down the attraction. Lilo jumped out before they were completely reaching the ground. She didn't hear very well what Chris had said, that was true, but she already kind of knew what he had said. She felt though as if she wanted to run away, to escape… she was afraid, and she didn't even know what she was afraid of… was she afraid of Chris? Was she afraid of what he had asked? Anyway, she decided to stay and face it… she wouldn't escape.

Stitch had almost fallen from his seat as well when he heard Chris making that question to Lilo. Just what in the blitznac world was going ON? Who was HIM? Since when did HE know Lilo? Those and more questions were shot by his brain, but he was able to answer none of them. He felt his blood boiling with something more than just anger, and oblivious to him, his hands had closed, turning into two rocks ready to tear apart the boy. But then another feeling overwhelmed him… a deep angst. What was Lilo going to reply? He noticed Lilo jumping out of her seat, and then he decided to stay behind of them just to know if Lilo liked the boy too and what she was going to reply.

"Hey, Lilo!" Chris shouted as he noticed Lilo going away for some seconds, but then she turned and walked to him. He stopped running and then let a nervous smile draw on his face. Lilo didn't smile back.

"So, what was that you told me?" She asked, trying her best to hide her apprehension, but her voice failed and a hint of anxiety went out.

As she waited for his reply, Stitch waited as well, biting his nails in uneasiness…

"I asked you…" Chris started, and then took a long breath "-…will you please be my girlfriend, Lilo?"

Lilo was shocked beyond measure. She had never been asked that in all those years she had been in high school, and sure that made her think she wasn't pretty, so it was all a shock and a surprise to find out that a boy actually liked her and that he was asking her to be his girlfriend. She was barely overcoming the shock when Chris starting getting close to her. He was so close now that she could practically feel his breath on the skin of her face. Suddenly, Chris was tackled by a blurry blue figure, and the next thing that Lilo saw was a blond wig laying on the ground and Stitch growling furiously upon a very scared Chris.

"Stitch!"

Stitch didn't stop growling and snarling at Chris even when Lilo tried to get him off the poor boy. Stitch fought a bit more to keep upon Chris, but then he gave up when he realized that it was Lilo who wanted to take him off the boy. Immediately, he got off Chris and backed a bit away so he could get to his feet again.

"W-whoa! What's t-that THING?" Chris asked, totally freaked out. Lilo sighed heavily. This was going to be a bit hard to explain…

"Uh, Chris, remember my dog?"

"Is THAT a dog?"

"Yeah. He's Stitch… are you okay?"

Chris stood up and shook off all the dirt that had gotten to his clothes. "Yeah, I'm okay, I guess…"

"Uh, okay… Chris, I think I better go home. It's getting dark and Nani hates it when I get home after sunset. I'm still her little baby sister…" She chuckled a bit. "See ya tomorrow, okay?"

"Do you want me to take you home?"

"No! -I mean, thank you, but I… I think I will be okay with Stitch being with me. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Chris nodded, and Lilo hugged him briefly before Stitch broke them apart growling and almost grabbed Lilo home.

"Aloha…" Both of them said before growing apart, Lilo feeling very thankful that he didn't ask her anything else about Stitch.

As Lilo and Stitch walked by the restrooms, a certain pink furred experiment got out of the ladies' restroom and breathed with relief.

"Stitch, I'm okay now!" She announced.

No response.

"Uh, Stitch?"

Still nothing…

"Anybody?"

Lilo and Stitch walked in silence while there were people around in the festival, but soon they reached the cool Hawaiian forest. They had just advanced a few feet when Lilo sat on a near log and sighed.

"Stitch, why'd you do that?"

Stitch cringed when he heard her tone. She seemed to be angry. She was mad at him. He sat next to her on the same log.

"Stitch naga like that boy. Stitch angry cuz boy too close to Lilo. Isa naga good…"

"But anyway, did you have to attack him like that? I mean, you could have at least… you could have done something that wasn't too rough. You scared him! Just imagine if he figures out that you're not a dog, but an alien. Imagine if people figured it out as well. Even if Chris didn't say a word about what you did, people would get freaked out and then they would call the police or somebody else, and they would take you away… I'd never see you again, Stitch! Is that what you want?"

Stitch dropped his ears, letting her know that he realized that he did wrong. He looked at hear pleadingly.

"Stitch sokka, Lilo… Stitch promises… isa never happen again. Stitch got…"

He didn't finish the sentence. He wasn't sure if he only got angry.

"That's okay, Stitch. Just never get in that kind of trouble again." Lilo smiled a bit and then patted his head "Now let me think what I'm gonna say when I see him again…"

Stitch perked his ears in interest. "Lilo get boojibu?"

Lilo looked at him a bit surprised. "Uh, I don't know, Stitch… I might say yes, I might say no. I have to think about it, you know?"

"But Lilo just met Chris! Isa too fast!" Stitch argued. Lilo felt a hint of anger grow inside her.

"Stitch, I don't think it's too fast. I know I just met him… yesterday, but-"

"Yesterday?" Stitch raised an eyebrow as he looked at Lilo disapprovingly.

"Yes. I just met him yesterday, but you know? We've talked a lot since then. He's told me a lot of things about himself and I have told him things about myself. I think I already know him good enough to know if I want to be more than friends with him or not."

"But Lilo just meet him! No long enough!" Stitch protested. "Lilo barely knows him!"

"So what? You barely knew Angel when you told her you loved her! Don't you think it wasn't long enough too?" Lilo blurted. "And even so, you two are happy together! Why should you tell me if it's not right for me to date Chris because I just met him when I might be happy with him just as much as you are with Angel?"

Stitch didn't say anything at this. He was completely taken aback by Lilo. Of course he thought it was too fast for Lilo to be Chris' girlfriend, but he hadn't thought it was too fast when he asked Angel to be his boojibu… and now he knew it hadn't been a good idea. Of course he had got to know her a lot more since then, but now he realized that what he had thought was love at first sight turned to be only a stupid crush that faded away as the years went by. Now he was with Angel only because he felt obligated to do so… not because he actually loved her.

"Besides," Lilo continued when she noticed Stitch wasn't going to say anything at what she had said ", if I say yes, maybe Chris can get rid of this stupid loneliness. I'm tired of being alone the whole time, Stitch… I haven't got anybody else with me since you're with Angel, and Nani's got her work and Jumba and Pleakley are always doing things of their own business, and my parents…! Well… I can't actually spend time with dead people…"

Stitch looked up at Lilo when she mentioned her parents. He knew that every time she mentioned them always meant that she would end up crying, and in fact, a few tears were starting to gather at the edge of those beautiful brown eyes.

Immediately, all of the anger and heat of the recent discussion with Lilo faded away like nothingness and then he brought her to the comfort of his arms. She seemed to have forgotten the whole discussion as well because now she has holding to Stitch as if her life depended on it, crying out her heart in his arms

"You know Stitch? I really miss them… I thought that I had already overcome this and that all the depression I go through when it's the anniversary of their deaths was only temporary…" She sobbed into his fur "… seems like if I haven't got over that yet."

Stitch patted her back and kissed the top of her head thoughtlessly. She didn't notice it though, or at least she didn't complain about it. She needed all the comfort possible from Stitch, and she would receive thankfully any sample of affection from him.

"Lilo, please… forgive Stitch? Ih? Pleechiba?" He whispered as he nuzzled his nose into her black silky hair.

"What for, Stitch?" Lilo asked.

"Stitch made Lilo angry… very, very angry. Lilo forgive Stitch?"

Lilo nodded. "I'm the one who should be asking for forgiveness, Stitch… I'm just making you waste time for nothing. Just let's go home, please…"

Before Lilo could stand up, Stitch scooted her in a bridal position and carried her on his arms.

"Stitch, what's the matter? I'm okay… my foot is not hurt like yesterday it was. Why are you carrying me?" Lilo asked surprised. Stitch chuckled a bit and held her even closer to him.

"Lilo tired. Lilo should rest."

Lilo didn't say anything else. She smiled thankfully at Stitch and then kissed him on the cheek. The little blue alien felt his cheek burning where her lips had kissed him, and his heart fluttered as she cuddled against the fur of his chest, looking for some warmth and rest. Right now, only they mattered for each one. Again, neither Angel nor Chris existed in that moment. It was only them.

Stitch walked the whole way to their home with a sleeping Lilo locked in his arms. When they finally got home, none was there to ask why he was carrying Lilo. He felt thankful for that. He climbed to the dome and placed Lilo gently on her bed, finally covering her to the chin with the warm, fluffy blanket. Before he realized of what he was doing, he found himself with his lips upon Lilo's forehead, kissing her affectionately. She stirred slightly under his lips, and then he stopped and pulled himself away.

"I love you, Stitch…" Lilo murmured and then she didn't say anything else. Stitch peered at her with curiosity. Had she said that in her sleep or she was still conscious? Anyway, even though that wasn't the first time she told him she loved him, it made his heart flicker inside him.

"Meega bookily tay, Lilo… too." He said softly, more to himself than to Lilo. Then he remembered the daydream he had that morning… the one when he found that he was kissing Lilo. Instead of rejecting the delusion as he first did, this time it made a blush creep into his cheeks, unknowing to him. Now he wondered again why he had dreamed of that. He remembered how much he daydreamed of kissing Angel when he met her. He was always dreaming of having her locked in his arms and kissing her to no end.

Did this mean that he was falling for Lilo now?

He shook his head. It sure didn't mean that. He hadn't been feeling this for so long… it had just started yesterday, and now he was thinking that he might be falling in love with Lilo? It was almost as fast as it had been with Angel.

He didn't want to believe it, though. He wanted to believe that, if he was falling in love again, this time it was for good… not like it had been with Angel. His heart wasn't attached to hers like it had been before. He felt that now he loved her more with a friendship love rather than lover love. He only cared for her now.

That was why he hadn't broken up with her yet. Even though he didn't love her the same way anymore, he didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to think that he would probably destroy the happiest and dearest thing for Angel, but he wouldn't hold on for so long with this big lie.

He sighed. His head was starting to ache with so many confusing thoughts. He decided to distract himself for a while. Just as he was about to reach the lift to go down and watch some TV, he stumbled with something hard. He fell to the floor and growled at the thing that had made him stumble and fall. It was only Lilo's backpack. He realized that all of her books and notebooks from school were already spread over the floor because he had accidentally kicked the backpack before he fell. He got to his knees and then started gathering everything up. When he lifted the last notebook, an old magazine slipped out of it and fell to the ground. Stitch grabbed it and was about to keep it along with the other ones when a headline caught his attention.

_HOW TO KNOW IF YOU'RE TRULY IN LOVE:_

_Is it a crush, or something more?_

Stitch read the headline twice, not so sure about it. He had never trusted that kind of cheesy magazine-tests, but this one caught his attention. He looked more carefully at the magazine. It was one of those for teenage girls. He pondered about it. Lilo had never really liked to read that kind of magazines because she said they were dull, but then why did he find it in her backpack? A lot of good causes went through his mind, but none of them was good enough. Anyway, he opened the magazine. His practical side told him that all of those tests were stupid and that they didn't lead him anywhere, but his curiosity was bigger. He looked for the test between the many pages replete with photos of rock stars and a lot of other famous people, principally boys.

Lilo stirred on her bed. Stitch gasped for a second, thinking that she was going to wake up, but she only turned on her side and continued to sleep. He sighed with relief, but just when he was about to open it again, the same thought of the magazine being stupid came to his mind, this time stronger than the first time.

_Who needs to read a cheesy magazine-test to know if you're really in love? This is plain ridiculous, _he thought as he closed firmly the magazine. Then he took the notebook in which he had found the magazine. He looked for a moment at the label on the cover, which read "math". He shrugged. Maybe Lilo got so bored at that class that she needed to clear off her mind by reading anything. Much to his surprise, when he opened the notebook he didn't see any equation or math operations, but instead he found some kind of journal. The girl was smart. She had disguised her journal as a math notebook because that way no one was going to get interested on reading it.

He felt tempted to give it a read, but he wasn't really sure about it. How was Lilo going to react if she found that he had read her diary? He knew for sure that Lilo hated when people deceived or lied to her, and he would be doing that in some way if he read her diary. But he wanted to know as well what was that that made Lilo so sad. He knew deep inside that part of her sadness was caused by his constant absence, but he wanted to be sure of that, so he started to read:

"_February 13__th__ 2012_

_I've been having a nightmare lately, the same I started to have since December. I just can't take it off my head. Whenever I try to busy myself with anything, this nightmare always comes to my head. I can't study, I can't eat… I cannot even sleep. I always wake up at the middle of the night, and I just can't talk to anyone. _

_Stitch has been too distanced from me since he started dating Angel. I mean, when they got to be a couple, he used to spend some time with me anyway, but it's been two years since he started to spend all of his time with Angel, and I don't know why. I miss him so much. I miss having him here to listen at me and all of the things that trouble me. I barely see him anymore. The last time I saw him was two days ago. I've been busy at school and I think he's been too busy with Angel. _

_I know I should understand that he's got a life ahead and that we've got to get distanced at some point, but it just hurts so much. I'm not used to this, and I think I'll never get used to it. _

_So, I can't do anything because of that nightmare and Stitch's not here anymore. I need him so much…"_

Stitch cringed when he read that entry. He knew that Lilo was pained because he spent more time with Angel. It was in part his fault she was so sad, but she mentioned that there was another thing that troubled her too, so he continued to read:

"_February 14__th__ 2012:_

_Again, last night I had the same nightmare, just that this time it felt so real… when I woke up I was crying. I felt that I traveled back in time to the night when I got orphan. I could see and live every moment again. It was as if I actually saw them, touched them and had them again. It was awful to wake up and remember that I'm an orphan. Over all, it was awful to remember that I'm alone again. _

_Today is Valentine's Day, and as every year, I went to the dance with the gang: Victoria, Myrtle, Yuki, Elena and Teresa… well, except that this time, Teresa, Yuki and Elena got somebody to dance with. I was glad that I wasn't totally left alone, but anyway I felt as if I had been left behind. While I watched everybody dancing, I kind of remembered Stitch. I remembered that day, some years ago, when we caught a very special experiment. Yeah, I'm talking about Hunkahunka. I remembered how that day Stitch and I danced together, and trust me, I was about to cry when it hit me that he's not with me anymore like he used to. _

_Probably, right now he's taking Angel to dance and have some dinner. I don't know if I'm jealous of her, but I think I kinda am. She's got all of Stitch's attention, and I… well, nothing. Sometimes I wish that I had my parents here with me. They always had something for me, to make me feel better and forget all of my problems. I miss them so much too… I've been missing a lot of people lately, I guess. It's just that I feel so lonely…"_

Stitch yawned as he came to the end of that entry. He looked up at the clock and saw it was already 10:30 p.m. He stretched and kept the magazine inside the journal, then put them on the night table. Then just as he was about to walk to his cot, he gave Lilo a last look.

"Stitch sorry, Lilo…" He whispered. Then he climbed to his cot and entered under the blanket. He had only to reach up his hand to turn off the lights and start to sleep. Soon, he was snoring softly and steadily.

Stitch opened his eyes and moaned tiredly. He didn't like when he couldn't get a good sleep, and it only happened when there was something troubling him way too much. He jumped out of his cot and went downstairs to have some food in his stomach. Not so long later, he had already devoured a bowl of cereal —bowl included— and almost a complete box of cookies. Anyway, it didn't seem like if it was helping him, even though he had warmed up the milk of his cereal in the microwave. He sat on a chair and tried to think what was that that troubled him enough as to steal his sleep. His eyes went to the clock on the wall. 3:45 a.m.

He was sure that something about Lilo concerned and troubled him, but he didn't know what to do. She said that she missed him, but she mentioned that she missed her parents so badly too…

Again, the idea that had hit him two days ago hit him again, this time with more force. _"Travel back in time and save Lilo's parents…" _was the thought that went by. Now, it didn't seem a foolish idea. It seemed like a great one, in fact. That would be the perfect way to make Lilo happy again. She needed her parents.

Slowly, not wanting to wake up Jumba or Pleakley, he entered the little room. Boy, did Jumba snore… he sounded like a horse. Then he walked tip-toeing to their wardrobe. He took out cautiously a large, thin object, and then he went out of the room as quietly as he could, finally getting out not only of the room, but of the whole house as well.

Now he was on the backyard, thinking if he should do this. He had been about to give up, remembering how dangerous was traveling and changing something that was meant to be anyway, but then he remembered how sad Lilo had been lately, getting even to cry… something not very usual about her. Finally, he pushed the lever of the old time-surfboard and chose the date: April 10th of 2001.

There was a bright flashing light and then Stitch was gone.

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FINALLY! The moment we all have been waiting for: Stitch traveling in time! I will try to start writing the next chapter as soon as possible so you don't have to wait so long to read it. Hope you enjoyed! **R&R!**

By the way, I know that there might be some things that won't seem to make any sense, but trust me, they will in future chapters. :)


	8. A stitch on time

Dang, I wanted this updated for Valentine's Day, but I forgot my USB at home and I couldn't update until today. I know this chapter is kind of short, but I hope you'll like it. Please R&R!

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**If I never met you**

_Chapter 8_

_A stitch on time_

It was a calm night. There was a soft breeze passing between the palm trees, and some birds were already getting to their little nests, while some animals of the forest were running back to their homes.

Hidden behind of the forest, there was an old house we all know very well. The only difference was that there wasn't any dome adorning the top of the house and the color of the walls was a bright yellow instead of blue. Right on the patio, there was a bright light that appeared suddenly. A distracted squirrel that walked by ran away scared as it noticed the light. As fast as the light had appeared, it faded away, and then on its place appeared Stitch riding the old time-surfboard. He reached the ground and went out flying, roughly hitting the ground.

"Grr… time-surfboard still same." He growled as he stood up and rubbed his head, and then looked around.

He noticed he was in the front yard of the Pelekai house. He hadn't been so sure about at what time he should arrive there, but he had chosen 9:00 p.m. He remembered that Lilo had mentioned once or twice that it was the time when she and Nani used to go to bed when their parents were still alive.

Then he noticed all the forest animals and birds rushing to their respective homes. He smelled the air and looked at the sky: it was cloudy, and the air had that particular smell right before rain comes, and a cold breeze surrounded the place. Maybe it would get rainy in half an hour or so, but meanwhile he had enough time to recognize the place and make up a plan. He lifted the time surfboard and hid it among some leafy ferns.

He started thinking what he should do when he looked at the house. He couldn't help smiling at the sight. It looked almost identical to the first night he had spent there. The stairs, the walls, the windows, everything was just as he remembered, and the old blue bug he had used to hit Jumba several years ago was parked by there, intact. The only difference, however, was that it wasn't blue, but it was a bright green color.

He snapped out of his remembrances, reminding himself what he was there for, so he ran up to the stairs and then approached to the closest window, which let at sight the living room. He peeked inside cautiously.

Inside, a younger, immature Nani danced with a little girl, while the voice of the King inundated the place. He almost dropped his jaw at the sight. He had never seen Nani acting like a little girl. In fact, since he had met her, she had always been too mature for her age, always acting like a grown up, due to the responsibility she had got with dealing and raising her little sister, so it was quite a show to see Nani dancing there with her sister, without worrying about paying any bill, going to work or anything for grown ups. She was just a normal girl.

Then his eyes went to the other girl he knew so well.

His Lilo.

He watched the girl laughing and smiling carefree. How much he had missed Lilo smiling like that! He forgot for some seconds that he was supposed to be hiding, so he let his whole face stick out of the darkness to get a better sight of the girl. Even if she was again the little girl he had first met, with no teenage features on her body yet, he still thought she was kind of… cute.

A loving smile crept to his face as he watched only her. Now he realized of how much she had actually changed since then… or since now, we should say. The past was now the present… or something so. Stitch didn't care anyway. He was too absorbed on the sight of the girl, remembering every detail of her as a teenage and comparing that image on his head to the one ahead of his eyes.

"Okay girls. It's time to go to your beds now."

His head moved abruptly to the place where he had heard the voice coming from. A young man approached the record player and placed apart the little silvery needle from a huge black record.

Stitch looked intently at him. He wasn't too tall, but he wasn't short either. His skin was a bit darker than the girls', and his eyes were honey-colored. His hair was straight and raven, which resembled a lot to the hair of the little girl. He watched the man and listened to the girls' attempts to convince him to let them have some more fun.

He chuckled as he watched Lilo using her beautiful brown eyes to persuade him. She was so cute… how could somebody resist those gorgeous eyes?

"_Seems like if she has always been able to use her eyes to say what she can't with words" _Stitch thought to himself. The man wasn't persuaded anyways, not even with those beautiful eyes staring back at him. _"He must have a lot of willpower to ignore those eyes" _Stitch thought amused. _"I couldn't have done that if I had been him…"_

"What do you mean 'too young'? I'm eighteen, dad! I'm not a little girl anymore." Nani protested after the man said no to their request.

"Yeah, she's big now, that's why she's got a boyfriend now."

"Lilo!"

Stitch nearly let out a cackle, but he controlled himself and only snickered. Now these were the sisters he knew!

Soon, he watched Nani's hand dripping wet with Lilo's saliva. Some angered shouts were heard and Nani started tossing pillows everywhere, trying to get Lilo. He remembered how many times he and Lilo had made Nani angry, and this was the exact reaction they always got from her. It always was fun to get pillows tossed around you, but it always ended with both of them being forbidden to have desserts after dinner…and however, it was still fun.

"Kale! Wassup out there?"

Everybody's eyes, including Stitch's, went to the entrance of the corridor. There was a young, beautiful woman. Stitch stared amazed at her, and then his eyes went back to little Lilo. He couldn't believe how much she resembled to her mom! That woman could have been the young Lilo he knew, except for the black curly hair, but everything else of Lilo was there. Now he could tell that she looked a lot like her mom. Not even Nani had that resemblance!

He observed while the man and the girls gave compliments to the woman, who went by the name of 'Lani', as he learned just a bit later. He could see the love on the man's eyes while he stared at his wife, and not so long later they kissed.

If Stitch had been younger, he would have made a disgusted grimace at this, but now instead he could only watch as the couple kissed and think. His eyes went to the girls, watching as well the couple while they kissed. He was amused to find out that this little Lilo wasn't the same who told him once that 'you gotta believe in love'.

"Ewww, now that's gross, Nani… I can stand to lick your hand, but this is real yuck!"

"That's no yuck, Lilo. Mom and Dad love each other. It's natural for them wanting to kiss."

"Well, they're supposed to love us too and they never kiss us that way. Why don't they do the same? Hugging isn't enough? Kissing is gross!"

Stitch chuckled. _"Aaah, mi little Lilo… if only you knew…"_

"Lilo, you shut up. You'll see when you grow older. You won't think the same way about kissing, and some day you'll find somebody special and both of you will like to kiss." Nani confirmed his thought. "You know, you gotta believe in love.

"_Well, at least now I know where she learned that from…" _he said to himself as Lilo's eyes grew wide with disgust and sickness, while his brightened with an unknown gleam.

"I won't EVER do THAT! What if that somebody you're talking about is actually a vampire and he tries to suck out all of my blood? I don't think that would be very nice!"

"_Well, good thing I'm not a vampire," _an unexpected thought crossed his mind before he could even reason what he was thinking. He shook it out of his mind

"_What am I thinking about? Stitch, are you telling me that you want to kiss Lilo?"_

"_Well, I don't mean this Lilo, because she's way TOO young to…" _

"_-Do you mean you would like to kiss the older Lilo? Ack! Now I'm arguing with my own mind! I'm going crazy… _

"…_over Lilo, that's it." _

"_Gaah! Just not again…!" _

"Lilo, honey, there are two points against you. For one thing, you love vampires. And two, that person would never try to hurt you if he truly loves you. Or else…" the man stated as his arm surrounded Lani's shoulders.

"_Tickling her to death doesn't count as hurting, right? …Hey!"_ Stitch slapped his forehead in realization. He didn't like those thoughts pop out all of sudden, but somehow, someway, they made him feel a flattering sensation grow inside him… something he didn't want to admit he liked.

He still watched everybody like for ten minutes before a cold drop fell on his nose. He looked up to the sky. Clouds were now covering the whole dark night sky, and soon several drops of water were falling everywhere. He growled at the tiny drops. He had never really liked water, and that included rain.

He climbed the wall to go somewhere covered and protected from rain, but then he changed his mind. What did he care if it was rainy? He wanted to take advantage of every second he was there. He wanted to see again as much as possible that little girl he had befriended first.

He gave a look inside the living room and noticed that the family wasn't there anymore, but he still could hear some noises inside. He followed the noises and finally he was outside of the girls' room. He peeked inside and was just in time to see the young woman sitting on Lilo's bed to start singing the lullaby.

"_When storm clouds grow_

_And I feel blue…_

_Your song comes drifting on the trim winds_

_Your bright smile shines like sun on sand_

_And then I will dream again…"_

Stitch was awestruck by that beautiful voice. He would have fallen asleep too if it weren't for the cold drops of rain hitting his back. He stayed there, watching how his Lilo fell asleep as her mom sang a second time for her. This was why Lilo had missed so much her parents, as now he could see. They were a very united family… they were what you could call a true Ohana.

"Those two are still your babies, right?" The man whispered, not wanting to wake up his little two angels.

"I can't help to feel that way. Even when they fall in love, get married and have children, they will be my babies still." Lani said and then sighed as she looked at her little Lilo, then looked up at the man. "But well, did I hear something about going to watch a movie and having dinner or something?"

The man smiled and said something else, and then the couple went downstairs.

Stitch peeked a last time inside the room to stare at Lilo. _"I promise you that they'll see that day, Lilo… I promise…"_ he thought and then climbed down the wall.

The rain was now hitting hard the ground, so he rushed to the part of the house where the car was parked. As fast as he could, he opened the lock of the car with one of his sharp nails and entered the back part of the car. He had no time to close the door. The couple was already in sight, and he could only half-close the door of the car to hide beneath one of the seats and hope they didn't mind too much about the half closed door. Finally, they got there, and Stitch only could keep as quiet as possible.

"Kale, honey, the door is half closed." Lani said worried. "Don't you think that somebody got in to steal something?"

After Kale got in the car, Stitch held his breath. He could feel the man practically upon him, since he was hidden under the driver's seat. After some suspenseful seconds, Kale just shrugged it off.

"Nah, either one of the girls forgot to close it completely or the door needs a new lock. But by now, let's forget about everything and have some fun tonight, okay?"

"Okay." She smiled. They kissed briefly before Kale turned on the motor and then drove away from the little house.

Meanwhile, Stitch had been about thinking which would be the best way to prevent the soon-to-come accident that would take away their lives. Maybe he could pierce the gas container? No, it wasn't a very good idea to play with something inflammable. Then maybe he could just jump in the way of the car and stop it right before they crashed? No; he didn't want to make his presence too noticeable. He would leave handprints if he tried to stop the car. Then? Maybe he could just steal away the car and leave it in some other part of the town… nope, that wasn't a very good idea either.

Then he felt the car stopping. He waited to peek outside until the couple was gone. He could see how they got into the cinemas, the same place where he and Lilo went to watch the Wasp Mummies saga and other monster movies.

He smiled again with some nostalgia. That had been so long ago… before he started spending all of his time with Angel, they used to be very close friends. Lilo wouldn't go anywhere without Stitch, and Stitch wouldn't ever leave Lilo's side.

"Look mom, a doggie!" He heard all of sudden. Out of the window, there was a four year old girl, pointing straight to where he was while grabbing her mom's long skirt. However, the woman wasn't paying too much attention to her daughter's cries.

"Yeah, how nice, honey." She said without even looking to where the girl was pointing at. "Come on, let's go home now." And with that she lifted the girl to carry her in her arms.

"No, really, mommy, there is a doggie!" The girl insisted. Finally, the woman followed her girl's finger. There was nothing inside.

"Teresa, there's no doggie inside that car. Come on, let's go home." And then the woman walked away with the girl in her arms. Then Stitch lifted his head again to see the woman meeting a man, probably the girl's father, and then he saw them laughing together and walking away happily.

Now he could start to understand why Lilo missed so much having a mom and a dad in her family. Definitely, it wasn't the same than having an adopted family.

He sighed and then went to the front seats. He dropped on the driver's seat. What could he do? He started thinking, and after a couple of minutes, he remembered the days in which he and Lilo found out that Jumba had brought all of his illegal experiments… then he remembered how he activated the spaceship… Cobra's car too…

His face illuminated with a huge grin. Immediately, he went to the other seat and started working his paws on the several wires of the car.

About two hours later, a couple went out of the cinemas. Both of them were laughing about some joke as they went into the car, disposed to go back home. Stitch woke up and yawned lazily. He had been sleeping during these two hours. As he stretched to clear up his mind and muscles, he heard the noises of the couple, chatting happily about their night.

"Whoa, look what time is it now! 1:34 a.m. Sheesh, no more fun tonight. I'm already too tired." Kale pointed as he looked at his watch.

"Long night, huh? Well, I had a lotta fun. What about you?"

"Me too. But now we gotta go back home and get to be parents again until next year."

Lani chuckled as she thought of their night. They had had a lot of fun, just like when they had been younger.

Kale took out the keys from his pocket and started the engine, but it shut down immediately.

"Huh?" He mumbled startled and twisted the key again. The engine worked for a couple of seconds before shutting down again. "What's going on with this car?"

"What? Is everything okay?" Lani asked as she noticed the car shutting down every time Kale tried to start the engine. He frowned.

"I think this car needs to be fixed… I'd do it, but now I'm too tired. What do you think if we call a crane tomorrow to take the car home? By now, maybe we could get a taxi or something."

"Sounds like a good idea," Lani replied. Kale hooked his arm around his wife's and then they just walked away.

Stitch lifted his head once more and watched as the couple stopped a taxi. Lani entered first, and then Kale got in. Then the car turned around and disappeared behind some houses and palm trees. Stitch could finally go out, and then he ran in direction of the Pelekai house.

He ran two blocks or so before turning to the right, and then sighed in relief. The short way that Lilo and he used to go home existed, at least. This was the way they always took whenever they knew they were going to be late for dinner, which always helped them to get home in time.

He ran under the soft rain and the cold wind for five minutes before getting Lilo's house in sight. A yellow car had parked there, and he could see two silhouettes getting out of it. He turned on his night vision and saw Kale and Lani Pelekai, paying the taxi driver. Then the car turned around and drove off all the way before reaching a corner, where it turned to the right and disappeared.

He kept hidden behind the ferns until he watched the two humans getting in the house, when he could get out of his hiding place to follow them. He dashed upstairs and went to a near window.

Kale had dropped dead of tiredness on the couch, and Lani was just getting out of their room with a blanket. Neither of them worried about taking off their normal clothes and putting on a pajama. Lani put the blanket on the man, and then bent down to kiss his cheek lovingly. Then she lifted a bit the blanket and entered the couch to sleep with her husband.

"I love you, Ni." Stitch heard Kale's soft voice.

"Love you too, Kale." Lani replied, and then they said nothing else.

Stitch had to wait still a few minutes before he was sure that they both were deeply asleep. He had noticed that the entrance door had the same doggie door that he had used when he had first arrived. Now he just wanted to do something else before leaving this time and returning to his own time.

He slipped softly into the house, and then tiptoed across the living room, and then across the corridor. He went up the wooden stairs and opened the door as quietly as he could, and then he found himself in Lilo's old room.

Being careful with not waking up any of the girls, he stepped closer to Lilo's bed. There was she. His best and dearest friend, his Lilo. She looked so innocent when she was asleep, so peaceful… he couldn't stop his hand from reaching out to caress her cheek. He stayed close to the side of her bed, watching her sleep while he caressed gently her face and hair.

"I promised… they will see the day when you fall in love and have kids. Ih, they will… they will, Lilo. Stitch promises. Aloha."

He pulled himself up to reach for her nose and then kiss it. Lilo stirred a bit under his kiss, but out of that, she didn't move. He let out a sigh and then turned to leave the room. He went to the window and opened it, and after he had gone out, he closed it as quietly as he could.

He walked slowly to the place where he had hid the time surfboard. He was thinking a lot about what he had just done. Now Lilo was going to be happy. He couldn't wait to see her smiling face again. It had been so long since he had last seen her genuine, carefree smile…

Finally, he found the place. He introduced his hand and looked for it, and then took it out. His fur was still moist of the rain water, and he was very tired too. All what he wanted now was going home and sleeping on his comfortable cot. He typed a few buttons and then pulled a lever. There was a bright flash, and then Stitch was gone again from that time to return to his own.

Ten years later, in the front yard of the Pelekai house, there was a blinding flash and then Stitch appeared riding the time surfboard. We all know what happened then: the time surfboard stopped too abruptly, Stitch went out flying and then he mumbled some very bad words against the time surfboard, just like last time. He went into the house with the time surfboard under his arm, got into Jumba and Pleakley's room and kept it back in the wardrobe to then go upstairs to the dome.

He smiled weakly when he saw Lilo on her bed. He was now too tired to keep watching how she slept, so he went to his cot and got under his blanket to get some sleep, but he had just closed his eyes when he heard a gasp coming from Lilo's bed and a soft cry. He didn't know if he had heard it or if he had just imagined it, but a soft sob dissipated his doubts.

He sat up groggily and looked at Lilo's bed. He saw she was sitting as well, crying softly to herself.

"Lilo?" He called softly. Lilo gasped in surprise when she heard Stitch's voice.

"Stitch? W-what are you doing?"

"Trying to sleep. Isa oki taka? Everything okay?" He asked cautiously. Lilo shook her head.

"Not at all. I had that same nightmare… again. Well, I'll just try to get back to sleep. I shouldn't be waking up people at this time in the morning," she giggled weakly. "Well, goodnight, Stitch."

Lilo turned on her bed and closed her eyes. She had started to wander on her thoughts when she felt something slipping in with her. She opened her eyes immediately, alarmed for a split of second. Stitch was there.

"Soka… Stitch scared Lilo?" He asked. She smiled at him sweetly.

"Nah, it's okay, Stitch. I just want to know… what are you doing?"

Stitch chuckled. "Isa naga obvious? Stitch going to sleep with Lilo… so Lilo is not afraid of nightmare."

Lilo stared at him, surprised, but soon she just shrugged it off and kissed the top of his head. Stitch felt a blush coming to his cheeks, but he was glad she couldn't see it. Soon, they were asleep in the other's arms, and no nightmare scared Lilo for the rest of the night. They both slept with a peace they hadn't felt since long, long ago.


	9. Falling

As promised, here it is: chapter 9. I think I'll have Lilo's parents appearing again for the next chapter... too bad that vacation time is almost over D8 well, hope you enjoy, and **thanks to all of the reviewers**. Your reviews are very encouraging, really :)

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**If I never met you**

_Chapter 9_

_Falling _

"_The sand was soft and warm, and the sun was just hiding behind the vast ocean. A dim green light was coming from the horizon too, something that you couldn't see everyday. Everything seemed perfect for a hike… and very romantic too. _

_Lilo had already seen this scene: when she was little, she had dreamed tons of times with this. She was walking on the seashore, allowing some of the water to touch her feet. She felt a hand wrapping around hers, a hand that she knew very well. _

_Just like in the dream she had when she was little, she whirled her head to look at the person walking beside her, holding her hand, expecting to see the boy who had been her childhood crush, just like she dreamed before: Keoni. _

_Instead of seeing the red haired boy, her eyes found Stitch beside her. _

_This was completely different to what she had dreamed of when she was younger, but out of that, the dream was exactly like her former fantasy. She was walking with him holding hands, just like she had dreamed of doing with Keoni, and she didn't feel like complaining about it. In fact, she liked it._

_The dream played itself, just like you'd play a movie or a song. Everything she remembered from her childhood dream was there, happening exactly like it had done before, only that this time it was Stitch instead of Keoni. Lilo tried to remember what happened later, but she could only remember the things she was just seeing. _

_All of sudden, Stitch began running, not letting go of her hand so Lilo would run with him too. _

_They laughed and ran for a few seconds before getting to a place with several palm trees making some shadow, inviting them to take seat on the sand under them. Stitch sat down first, and then Lilo copied his action. _

_Her head leaned over his head, and his arm wrapped firmly around her shoulders. They sat there, just watching how the sun hid more and more behind the ocean, and then how the sky started turning from purple to dark blue. _

_It was until the sky was completely dark when she finally withdrew her head from his and yawned lazily, and then tried to stand up, but then she felt his hand grabbing her arm, and then, in a very quick motion, he took her face in his hands and brought his mouth to hers. _

_The feeling that followed was wonderful beyond words. She kissed him back slowly, reveling on the feeling of his mouth pressed against hers. There was the second different thing to her original dream. She did not remember having felt such a wonderful sensation when she dreamed of kissing Keoni. It was far much better with Stitch. _

_Wait a minute… Stitch?"_

Lilo's eyes popped open to close quickly once more. Her eyes still needed to get used to the light inundating the room, so she kept them closed for a while. Besides that way she could think better.

Why had it been Stitch? It might have had more sense if it had been Chris, maybe. After all, he was a handsome, cool boy… but it hadn't been Chris. It had been Stitch. Why?

Finally, she felt like she could open her eyes. The first thing she saw was Stitch, sleeping peacefully and snoring softly in front of her. She had totally forgotten he had slept with her that night so she wouldn't be afraid of her nightmare, as he had said. It had been something nice from him… and cute too.

She smiled lightly. She had never thought he was cute when he was asleep and snoring at the same time. It was kind of funny the way she thought about it now. She liked to watch him sleep, but she decided it was better to wake him up to have some breakfast.

"Hey Stitch…" she called softly as she shook him slightly. "Wake up. Wake up, sleepy head. It's already morning."

Stitch groaned a bit in protest, but he kept his eyes closed. He wasn't awake yet. Lilo sighed heavily as she tried to shake him a bit more, but she was caught off-guard when Stitch tossed his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. She gasped in surprise and tried to put some distance between them, as her cheeks started to turn a very light crimson.

"Stitch… Stitch, it's not funny. Please let me go… please… STITCH!

Stitch finally opened his eyes. When he woke up completely and saw the way he was holding her, he jumped and let go of her, but when he jumped he had the bad luck of landing out of the bed.

He screamed, but he didn't know if he had screamed of the fright of landing on the ground or if he had screamed of the sudden surprise of finding himself holding Lilo in that way.

Lilo sat up immediately and peered at the place where Stitch had fallen on.

"I'm okay! I'm fluffy!" Stitch assured when he noticed the worried look in Lilo's eyes and smiled. Lilo smiled back.

"Okay, mister fluffy, want to go have some breakfast?" She asked.

"Ih!" Stitch replied instantly, wanting at all costs to forget of what had happened. Lilo got to her feet in a jump and then leaded for the lift, and Stitch followed willingly after her.

About two hours later, both Lilo and Stitch were done with their breakfasts and were now watching TV and eating some popcorn. Since it was Spring Break, she didn't have to go to school. Today was Tuesday, the second day she didn't go to school, so that meant she had still left almost two weeks before having to go back, and all she wanted was some rest.

Besides, it couldn't have got better. Stitch was now with her, and he had promised he'd stay with her until her vacation time was over. He had just phoned Angel to tell her of his decision, and even though Angel complained, he had enough willpower to say 'no' this time, and she understood. He was happy with his decision, and Lilo was ecstatic. Now she could finally spend some time with Stitch; she had no school and he had no Angel, at least for almost two weeks.

Stitch was staring at the screen of the TV, but he wasn't actually watching it. From time to time, his eyes would move to Lilo to look at her with a furtive gaze. He remembered constantly the delusion he had had of kissing Lilo, and his mind went back very often to the moment in the morning when he had held her as somebody more than just his best friend.

As he thought better about it, it wouldn't be true at all if he said he had always seen her as a friend. Several years ago, he had actually thought of her as somebody who could be more than his friend, but he had been afraid of the thought. They were different species. Nobody would accept his constant changing feelings for her.

However, when Angel came into his life, things seemed to get better almost immediately. After all, she was the perfect girl for him: she was his same specie, she was beautiful, and after some time, it seemed that she had fallen in love with him too, but then he realized that not even having Angel stopped him from feeling that way about Lilo. He had started to spend all of his time with Angel, trying to forget about it and lead his feelings again into a friendship love for her, but now those feelings that he tried to hide were blossoming again.

Suddenly, Lilo turned her head to him, feeling somebody was watching her. Almost immediately, he moved his eyes back to the TV.

She smiled. Stitch was so silly when he thought she hadn't noticed it. She felt kind of flattered, but she didn't give too much thought to it and then looked back at the TV. As well as Stitch, she was just staring at the screen, but she wasn't really watching it.

Her thoughts were kind of similar to Stitch's, meaning that she was thinking of her dream too. It had been kind of curious how she had had a nightmare, and just when he came to be with her, her nightmares turned into dreams.

She felt a blush coming to her face. She had thought only once of Stitch as more than just a friend, and that had been when she was still twelve. It would be a lie if she assured that she had always thought of him as a friend, and she actually had a little crush on him for a short time, but when Angel came again into his life her feelings for him were forced to change once more into friendship love.

After all, Stitch had already Angel. Why would he want to be with her instead?

Thoughts like these ran into her mind one after another. He had Angel. He would never try to change that…

The feeling of a hand gripping hers snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Woops, sorry." Stitch apologized as he removed his hand from hers. "Stitch not watching… meega watching TV."

Then his hand moved into the blue bowl containing the odorous popcorn to pick some and throw them into his mouth. _What the blitznac?_ He thought as he chewed. _Why do I apologize for touching her? I just take her hand and then I apologize…I just wanted some popcorn, after all_.

Finally, both of them were watching the TV again. They laughed whenever something funny happened, and one of those times their eyes met. Their laughs died as they deflected their eyes somewhere else, and an awkward silence followed, the only sound heard was coming from the TV. Stitch scratched the back of his head bashfully, and Lilo just let her arms wrap around herself shyly. It had been so weird… staring into each other's eyes, even if it was for only a second.

Neither of them would have known what to do, but fortunately for them, the doorbell rang noisily. Lilo thanked silently that little distraction as she jumped to her feet to open the door, while Stitch made sure he was acting as much as he could as a dog.

When Lilo opened the door, a brunette girl was let on sight.

"Is this is a good time?" she greeted cheerfully. Lilo replied with a bright smile as she let her best human friend in.

"Hi, Victoria. Stitch and I were just watching some TV." she said. Victoria noticed Stitch then and waved at him. Stitch did the same.

"Alright then," She answered. "I came over just to see if you wanted to come with me to the mall. You know, I just saw they're selling some old Elvis' records and stuff like that… so I thought you'd like to go and give it a check. Besides, it's been a while since we went together anywhere."

"Sure! Uh, can Stitch come over?" She asked suddenly. She wanted to have Stitch around her, but she wasn't sure why. Sure it was because now he was free of Angel, but there was something else she couldn't quite figure out.

"Well, why not?" Victoria replied. "Come on, Stitch."

Stitch jumped off the couch and followed the girls downstairs to finally enter a dark green jeep, which was the old car of Victoria's dad, though now she had permission to use it since her dad had gotten a new one. Victoria entered and sat down on the driver's seat, while Stitch went to the back seats. Just when Lilo was about to sit on the co-captain seat, Victoria stopped her.

"Don't sit there!" She shouted. Lilo remained frozen there with a confused look on her face. "…I forgot to tell you that I have to bring the car to a car-service. That seat is kind of broken. Never play with the levers!" She added with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, okay. I'll just sit here then, I guess." Lilo said as she jumped to the back seats, beside Stitch. She smiled timidly at him and then locked her seat belt around her waist.

The rest of the morning was great. After they had brought the car to a car-service, they went to the mall just to see what was new around. Lilo had brought some money so she could buy some merchandise of Elvis. She had bought a few old records and some CD's with several songs she hadn't before. Now it was nearly noon, and they were now outside, resting on a bench under the cool shadow of a tree. It was very hot.

"Maybe some ice-creams would be good right now." Lilo said as she tried fanning her face with a magazine.

"I'll go get them." Victoria said as she got up. She already knew what flavors were Lilo and Stitch's favorites, so she would know perfectly which ones to pick. However, Lilo stopped her.

"No, I can get them. It's my deal this time, okay?" She said. Victoria nodded agreeing and let her go. After Lilo had stood up, Stitch followed after her, of course, remembering he was supposed to be a dog and walking as one.

She had just taken the ice-creams when she heard Stitch growling behind her. Thinking it was some dog trying to smell him on the wrong place, she turned around, ready to shoo the stranger away.

However, what she saw was no dog. It was Chris.

"Hey, calm down… nice doggie!" he said softly. However, Stitch's anger didn't seem to fade a bit, but it seemed to grow instead.

"Stitch, it's enough." She said in a commanding voice. Stitch looked at her, growled one last time and left Chris alone. Then Chris walked up to Lilo.

"Hey, what's up, Lilo?" He said. Stitch growled once more and stopped when Lilo gave him a look of reprimand.

"Oh, well… I'm just buying some ice-creams for me and a friend."

"Excuse me, ma'am, but you haven't paid your ice-creams yet." The owner of the little post said. Lilo was about to pay for them when Chris took out some money and paid them.

"Oh, Chris, you shouldn't have…" Lilo said. Stitch sat beside her as he glared at the boy, as if telling him that he did not trust him, even though he wasn't growling at him.

"Yes, I had to… it's my way to say sorry for yesterday." He started saying. "I was a jerk. I should have never got that close to you without your agreement, and I'm sorry. I didn't even wait for you to tell me your reply to my question… and by the way, what do you think about it? Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

Stitch looked up at Lilo expectantly. Lilo looked at Chris and then at Stitch with anxiety in her eyes. After some uncomfortable seconds of silence, she opened her mouth to talk.

"You know, Chris, I think I'd rather being just friends with you by now. I just met you, and I don't think it's been long enough to know if I want to be more than just friends. Let's give it some time, okay? By now, we're only friends. No more."

Chris looked somewhat disappointed, but anyway he smiled. At least he could be still friends with Lilo.

As for Stitch, his face had immediately eased when she said they were no more than friends, and he would have let out a sigh of relief if it wasn't for Chris standing near him. He didn't know why, but it was a relief to know that Lilo had no pledge with Chris.

"Well, want to meet my other friend?" She asked. Chris nodded lightly and then followed her, trying to stick beside her. However, Stitch got between the two of them, leaving Chris apart from Lilo.

Stitch smirked secretly at him. He had always been of the jealous type. He could not stand any other person getting Lilo's affections or even her attention, especially if they were male. Just remembering Mr. Stenchy and Finder was more than enough. Even if they were his cousins, he wouldn't stand seeing Lilo's sudden attention and admiration for them.

Jumba had said that it was his competitive programming working on him, but if it had been so then it should have worked with more people than just Lilo. Now that he thought about it, maybe it wasn't just that. Those times with his cousins had been kind of special. Of course he had felt the need of feeling better than those two, but the most important had been to be better than them in Lilo's eyes. He cared more about what she thought about him than anything else, and now with Chris… well, now it was a bit more complicated. With all those feelings re-blossoming from the past…

"Vi, we've got the ice-creams!" Lilo's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Lilo then introduced Victoria and Chris, and then the three started talking. However, a short while later Chris and Victoria were talking more between themselves, so Lilo told them she was going to walk around the mall, of course, with Stitch following her.

They walked for a few minutes before getting to a huge fountain, far away from people and near the forest. They sat on the stairs of it as they licked their ice-creams. Seeing how few people was around them except for a couple of lovebirds, Stitch felt like he could talk now.

"Why Lilo told Chris she wanted to wait?" He asked cautiously. Lilo stopped licking her ice cream to talk.

"Well, you know… I kind of remembered what you told me about being too soon, and I realized you were right. Sure, maybe there are some people that after just meeting can know they will be happy together, just like you and Angel, but I rather not taking any chance." She replied calmly. Stitch lowered his ears.

"Stitch has to tell Lilo something… very important." he started. Lilo turned her face to him to let him know she was listening. "Stitch… not very sure anymore about Angel. Of course, meega cares for her, but Stitch doesn't know…! If he loves her… like love-love. Isa like Stitch wanted Angel to be just friend, not boojibu." He bowed his head a bit and then turned his face to Lilo by first time. "Gaba should Stitch do, Lilo? Meega no want to hurt Angel, but meega no want to lie to her either. So confusing…"

Stitch's free paw covered his eyes in frustration. Lilo used her free hand as well to get Stitch into an embrace.

"Ohh, Stitch… I don't know. I know you don't want to hurt her, but if she realizes that you have been lying to her this whole while telling her that you love her when actually you don't… I think that would hurt her beyond measure. Of course, if you tell her you don't love her like that anymore she will be hurt at first, but will thank you that you were honest to her and didn't lie. But, if you keep things like this…"

"I know, I know…" Stitch said. "Meega understands… Stitch needs to stop this, right?" He asked.

"I think you should do what you think it's going to be better" Lilo replied softly. Stitch nodded.

"Meega will only wait a little more… before telling Angel. Stitch needs to think what Stitch is going to say."

"Okay." Lilo answered. She let go of him and smiled lightly. "Well, we better finish off our ice-creams before they melt down, right?"

"Ih!" Stitch answered. He grinned at her and then started licking his ice-cream again, while Lilo did the same. Even though the talk they had just had, they felt calm and happy just being around each other. It had been so long since they had last spent some time like this…

Soon, they were playing and laughing together just as they had always done. Stitch accidentally threw his ice-cream at Lilo's face. She mocked a frown, but he could see the smirk forming in her lips. The next second, his face was covered with the remains of her ice-cream, and then both laughed. Finally, their laughter ceased and then they started cleaning their faces and taking the ice-cream off. Stitch only had to get his tongue all over his face to lick the ice-cream off, but Lilo couldn't do more than taking it off with a napkin.

"Stitch clean now?" Stitch asked when he thought he was done. Lilo giggled a little. She wasn't done with her own face yet, but anyway she used her napkin to clean a bit of ice-cream from Stitch's cheek.

"There. Now you're clean." She smiled as she stroked his fur playfully.

"Can Stitch have Lilo's cone? Meega liked Lilo's ice-cream a lot!" He begged, using his big puppy-like eyes. Lilo couldn't help to melt down at that demonstration and then she gave up.

"Okay, okay, there you go." She said as she handed him the remains of her cone, with only a minuscule amount of ice-cream in it.

Stitch threw it to catch it with his huge mouth. He liked it so much that he wished he had a bit more, and then he noticed that there were some remains of Lilo's ice-cream in her own face. Without thinking too much about it, he took her head in his hands as he stuck out his tongue to lick her face.

Lilo froze when she felt his tongue touching her cheek first and then going down to the side of her mouth and then to her chin, almost licking her lips now.

When Stitch felt Lilo's breath being cut and her muscles going tense, he finally realized of what he was doing. His tongue snapped back into his mouth while he sat down again and put some distance between them.

"Stitch sorry! Stitch very, very sorry!" He said as he shook his hands in the air, apologizing emphatically. Lilo could see his cheeks turning into a bright magenta, and Stitch could see as well Lilo's cheeks turning into a vivid scarlet.

"I… you… uh, don't worry… it's okay." She replied, stuttering. "I… need to go get some toilet paper or some kind of towel. I'll be… right back."

She stood up trembling and rushed into the mall again, stumbling several times with some lost tourist. Finally, she found a restroom and entered.

She grabbed some toilet paper from the wall and then washed her face, which still had Stitch's saliva and felt sticky with the remains of the ice-cream. When she was done, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She noticed that she had stained her clothes too. She hoped briefly Pleakley wouldn't be very angry, but her mind went another direction.

She noticed as well that she was blushing a lot, and her hands were slightly shaking. If only he had moved his tongue a bit upper…

"He almost kissed me! But we're just best friends!" She murmured to herself, though it sounded loud and clear in the room. An untidy forty-year-old woman went out of one of the little cubicles to wash her hands.

"Girl, da boy must be head ova' heels for you!" She said as the water fell on her hands, forming a white spume. "If he kissed ya, that must mean somethin', right?"

A bit scared of the woman, Lilo backed away a bit. When the woman was done, she looked one last time at Lilo before going out.

"Do what I tell ya, kid… you wanna be his girl too, ain't that true? Then just say yes! Make him spit out da truth!"

Lilo watched as the woman went out of the room. _That sure was scary…_ she thought, and then leaded her mind back into the previous subject. She looked once more at her reflection on the mirror. She kept staring at her for several moments, and then laughed a bit amused.

Why would Stitch be in love with her? She hadn't a blinding beauty, even though she was not ugly either. She was human, while he was an alien. He sure wouldn't find her attractive, and over all, they were just best friends since they were little. Why would their friendship turn into something more right now?

_Okay Lilo, you're starting to imagine things. Stitch and you are just friends, so why does this affect you so much? Even if he had accidentally kissed you, that wouldn't mean that he's in love with you or viceversa, so calm down and go out, smile at him and imagine that nothing happened between you two and go back to reality, okay?_

"Okay," Lilo agreed with herself, then stopped, confused. "Hey, I'm making agreements with myself?" She asked, and then smacked her forehead._ And now I'm asking questions to myself! Look at what you've done to me, Stitch! _She thought again, and then froze again.

Great, now she was talking mentally to Stitch. Trying to calm down completely, she finally gathered all of her courage to go out of that room and meet Stitch again.

She found him quickly. In fact, she stumbled with him, since he was waiting for her out of the restroom. The two screamed in surprise and then fell to the ground. Stitch got to his feet almost immediately, and then he saw Lilo on the floor.

"Soka…" He said with a nervous chuckle and then extended one hand to help her up. Lilo took off the lockets of hair that had gotten to her face and then took Stitch's hand. He pulled and then she was up again.

"Uh, thanks, Stitch…" She said, rather shyly. She could still feel his hand locking hers. A funny sensation grew in her stomach, tickling her a bit, making her smile slightly at him. "I think we should go with Victoria now… she must be waiting for us."

"Ih… waiting." Stitch said. His stomach was twirling a bit too, but it didn't make him smile. It made him be very uncomfortable, but at the same time, he liked that sensation.

He followed Lilo, walking again on four paws and pretending to be a dog until they were out of the mall again. They walked until they caught sight of the brunette girl. She was still talking to Chris, and they seemed to be having a good time.

When Victoria saw Lilo, she waved at her and called her name. They had been in that place for a pretty long time, so Victoria's car was ready now. She offered taking Chris home, because they lived in nearby neighborhoods, and he agreed. Lilo took seat again on the back seats, and then Stitch followed her. When Chris tried to take the seat beside Lilo, Stitch growled warningly and then sat on Lilo's lap, glaring at the boy. He backed away, scared of Stitch.

"I think your dog doesn't like me." He said to Lilo.

_Well, what were you expecting after you got that close to Lilo that day? _Stitch thought.

"Stitch! Don't be bad and let Chris…"

"No, no, it's okay, Lilo," Victoria interrupted her. "Chris can sit on the co-captain seat now. It's already fixed."

"Uh, thanks." Chris said as he sat down on the co-captain seat. Stitch smiled.

"Comfortable, huh?" Lilo grinned at Stitch when the car started moving. Then he realized that he was still sitting on her lap. He tried to sit back on the seat, but Lilo stopped him. "It's okay, don't worry. I like to fidget with your fur."

Stitch peered at her with slight curiosity, but didn't complain. Lilo's hands felt good, after all. Soon, he found himself purring and stroking his head against her body, and then falling asleep.

They delayed about half an hour to get to Lilo's house. Lilo tried waking up Stitch, but he didn't want to wake up. She sighed and then gave up. She thanked Victoria for bringing her home and then waved at them goodbye. She watched the car leaving and then started walking to the stairs with a sleeping Stitch in her arms. She looked down at him, smiled and then stroked one of his large ears lovingly. He was so cute when asleep…

She finally entered the house. Nobody was there to be seen. She went to the lift and pushed the button that would bring her to their dome. She placed Stitch on his cot gently and covered him with his blanket. Then she looked at him again. Was this really meant to be a war machine? She couldn't believe it, seeing how cute he was… and kind of handsome, if she gave it some thought. She shook her head when the thought came to her mind.

_Lilo, we've already been through this. He's only your best friend. No more. Remember when you were still twelve and feeling like this around him? Remember what happened later? He started spending all of his time with Angel. Even if he says that he doesn't want to be with her like that anymore, he might as well find another beautiful female experiment. Don't get too many hopes_.

She sighed. Of course… how could she forget of that? She stood up slowly and went downstairs to watch some TV. As she disappeared in the lift, she realized of something. Why was she warning herself of the way she felt about Stitch?

_Oh my… I think I'm getting a crush on him… again, _she thought. She sighed in frustration. No way!

She dropped on the couch and then started flipping through the channels, but the thought kept coming back to her the whole evening.


	10. Break up

Hey you all... so I decided I'd update the next chapter of both stories at the same time :P Hope you all will enjoy it.

**Thanks for all of your kind reviews! They're really encouraging, and they keep me writing! If I don't update as often as I'd like to, is because I've got some things to do at school and home, so please be patient. Please keep reading and reviewing!**

* * *

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 10_

_Break up_

The first week of Spring Break had already gone by, and the second was almost about to finish. During those weeks, Stitch and Lilo had spent a lot of time together, sometimes at home and sometimes outside, in the beach or somewhere else. Today was Wednesday, and Lilo wanted to enjoy her last free days with Stitch as much as possible. She was still thinking about what could they do in the rest of the day, but she had no ideas. Stitch was up in the dome, still sleeping.

"Morning, baby." Nani said hurriedly as she entered the kitchen. Nani grabbed milk from the refrigerator and then some cereal to prepare her breakfast.

"Lemme guess… you're late for work, again?" Lilo said as she looked at her sister, trying her best to hurry up.

"Uhh, kinda… I told Jumba I would need Belle, but he insisted in taking her yesterday."

"Where's he going?"

Nani didn't reply. She was too busy trying to eat quickly. When she was done, she stood up in a jump and kissed Lilo.

"See you later, baby. Oh, turn off the oven in about half an hour!" She said at last.

"Turn off the oven?" Lilo wondered briefly. She turned around and looked inside the oven and saw something inside. She didn't know what it was, but she didn't mind a lot either.

She returned to her former thoughts of what she could do with Stitch that day. She looked through the window. It was a cloudy morning, so it wouldn't be such a good idea to go out anywhere.

"Aloha, Lilo." she heard a voice. She turned her head and smiled.

"Morning, Stitch." She replied. Stitch smiled and then rubbed the sleep away from his eyes. The first thing he did was taking the carton of milk and throwing it into his mouth, and then some cereal followed. Lilo snickered.

"Guess you already had breakfast, right?" She asked. Stitch nodded. "Well, then what do you think about watching a movie?"

"Ih!" Stitch agreed. Ten minutes later, Stitch was sitting on the couch, ready to watch the movie. Lilo was in the kitchen, looking for some popcorn pack.

"Stitch, do we have any popcorn left?" She asked loudly from the kitchen. Stitch winced at this.

"Uhh… Stitch was too hungry…" he started, but Lilo understood immediately. She sighed and went out of the kitchen.

"Well, I guess I'm going to the store to buy some."

"Stitch go with Lilo?" Stitch asked hopefully.

"Yeah, why…?" She started, but then stopped on her way. "No, wait. Nani wanted me to turn off the oven in… about five minutes. I think you better stay to turn it off. I don't know what that thing is, but oh well… I'm going to buy some popcorn, okay?" She said as she opened the door. Stitch nodded.

"Please, don't forget to turn off that thing!" Lilo said at last as she went downstairs.

"Stitch won't! Meega promise!" Stitch shouted back.

Ten minutes later, Lilo walked back home with a pack of popcorn in hand. She hoped briefly Stitch hadn't forgotten about the stove. During the last week, he had been starting to forget a few things. Those were non-important things, but even so, Lilo didn't know what was going on with Stitch, but she knew he wasn't acting very normal.

He was a lot more distracted as well… looking at her sometimes. She shook off those thoughts. _Why do I keep imagining things? _She asked herself._ How many times do I have to repeat this? Stitch is only my best friend… only my best friend… _she repeated mentally.

Finally, she was in front of the door again. She opened it and went in. Stitch was sitting on the couch and watching TV. When he saw her, he smiled and waved at her.

"Where was Lilo?" He asked.

"I went for the popcorn, remember?" Lilo said smiling as she waved the thin pack on the air. Stitch looked at her confused.

"Lilo went for popcorn? But… Lilo wasn't in school?"

"What?" Lilo asked puzzled. "I'm in spring break, Stitch, don't you remember that?"

Stitch shook his head confused for a few seconds, and then nodded.

"Oh, right… Lilo has no school. Stupid head." He said and slapped his forehead.

"Uh, Stitch, what's that smell?" Lilo said as she smelled the air. It smelt like something that was burning… she gasped. The oven!

"Stitch! I thought I told you to turn off the oven five minutes after I left!" Lilo said as she ran to the stove and pushed a button. She opened it and then smoke went out making her cough. She turned her head and looked at Stitch a little angry.

"Gaba? Lilo told Stitch…?" He asked. Lilo looked at him a few seconds more, her frown fading away to leave instead a look of suspicion and bewilderment.

"Uh, Stitch, are you feeling well?" She asked.

"Ih." Stitch responded. Lilo looked more carefully at him.

"You don't remember I told you to turn off the oven, right?" She asked. Stitch shook his head. This was weird. He didn't remember where she had gone to, he didn't remember what she had told him to do… he even forgot she had no school until next week! Something wasn't normal about all this.

"I think I better bring you to Jumba." Lilo said. "Something's very weird around here."

They looked for Jumba in his room. There was a great mess in there, but Jumba wasn't there. The next option was searching in the ship. They walked out of the house to get into the ship, and there was Jumba.

"Jumba!" Lilo called from outside.

"Yes? Be coming in, please! Evil Genius is being very busy right now!" He responded from inside. Stitch and Lilo came in and saw a lot of cases sprawled around the floor and clothes and everything. It looked like somebody was preparing to go on a long trip.

"Uh, Jumba, what are you doing?" She asked. Then she remembered Nani saying something about Jumba leaving, but she waited for his reply.

"Am preparing luggage for trip!" Jumba replied without looking up at Lilo. Before Lilo could ask anything else, he explained. "Jumba is going on one-Earth-month trip to planet Turo to assist to a Galactic Scientific Alliance conference."

"What? Why are you leaving for so long?" Lilo asked startled.

"Uh, things of scientific industries of Turo. Am guessing they will be needing extra time to discuss Theory of genetic change at molecular level. Ha! It will be fun!" He laughed at his own joke.

"Gaba?" Stitch asked confused.

"Ah, it is only joke, my little creation…"

"Oh, Jumba, there's something I wanted to ask you." Lilo said, remembering what they had come for. "Stitch has been acting very weird lately…"

"Is that being all? Well then, that's an easy one. 626 normally acts a little weird, but if he is even weirder around Little Girl, then it can mean just one thing. Why doesn't 626 want to ask Little Girl to be his girlfriend? Then weirdness is over!" Jumba laughed again, this time making both Lilo and Stitch blush.

"Jumba! Stitch and I are only best friends!" Lilo shouted, trying to hide her reddened cheeks.

"Ih! Only achie-babas! BEST achie-babas!" Stitch remarked.

"Okay, okay, it was being only a joke! Don't have to take it so seriously!" Jumba replied. "Well then, what is this thing that is making 626 act so weird?"

"That's what I want to know," Lilo said. "He has been forgetting a lot of things lately. He even forgot that I'm not supposed to be in school until next week!"

"Um, well, so 626 is having problems with memory…" Jumba said as he walked to a near table. "626, please be climbing up table so Evil Genius can check you."

Stitch obeyed and jumped up to the table.

"Now open mouth…" Jumba commanded, and Stitch did so. "Phew! 626, am thinking you are seriously needing breath mints!" He said as he peered inside Stitch's mouth. "And washing teeth wouldn't be a bad idea… I am guessing this thing behind molar is piece of meat cake, but I am not being sure. Could be anything else as well."

Lilo grimaced at this, and Stitch growled slightly. He knew that hygiene wasn't his forte, but he didn't like to be exhibited. After a few seconds, Jumba pulled away and shook his head.

"Judging by the so many things I found in 626's oral cavity, he might have problems with memory because he's eating more uneatable things than he should, just like time when he ate tennis shoe and cashews. For example… he might be eating trash."

"Naga trash! Stitch only eat popcorn AND coffee!" Stitch said angrily.

"Well, then stop eating popcorn with coffee. That might be the one thing that is making you forget things. Well, am really wishing I could be doing more appropriate diagnosis, but Jumba has to be leaving within two hours… eh, what time is it?"

"Almost noon…" Lilo replied. Jumba's eyes widened in surprise.

"WHAT? I should have left one hour ago! Sorry, Little Girl and evil creation," he said as he pushed them outside ", but Evil Genius has to be leaving right now."

The doors of the ship closed, and then the ship lifted on the air to disappear in the cloudy sky. Lilo and Stitch could only watch as it left the atmosphere of Earth and then the planet itself.

"Well, then that's it. No more popcorn packs with coffee." Lilo said and then looked at Stitch. They smiled at each other and then went into the house to watch their movie.

"Miss Pelekai!"

Lilo turned her head immediately at the sound of her last name.

"Huh?"

"I just made you a question. I'll repeat it just once more: in what year did the United States buy the land of Louisiana?"

"Uhh… 1977?" Lilo said, accidentally replacing the right date for the date of Elvis' death.

"Wrong. If you keep daydreaming, you'll flunk the subject," The teacher said coldly. "Now, as I was saying…"

Lilo didn't hear anymore from the teacher, but this time it was because the bell chimed loudly across the whole high school. Several shouts of relief and excitement ran across all of the classrooms, because now it was time for everybody to go out of school. Just as everyday she went out of school, Lilo had to keep her feet on the ground to avoid falling onto it and being crashed by the crowd of teens that rushed out to either go home or hang out with their friends.

Finally, she could breathe again. She sighed and then started walking down the way that would take her to her home. She had been waiting the whole day for this moment, when she could finally go home and be with Stitch. Today was the day he would tell Angel the way he did really feel, and he had been very nervous last night. She had to be there for him, supporting him and comforting him.

"Hey, Lilo!"

She turned her head and saw a black haired boy coming out of the crowd of teens as well. It was Chris.

"Hi, Chris! What's up?" Lilo shouted back, and then waited for him for a brief moment before he caught up with her.

"Oh, well, nothing really… I just wanted to ask if Mrs. Lehman didn't leave any homework."

"I'd bet you got late to her class," Lilo said with a sigh. _This boy! _she thought. _First day at school and he's already getting late for classes._

"Uh, well… kinda," Chris replied.

"Hey guys!" They heard a third voice and then they saw Victoria coming from the crowd of teens as well. Once more, the talk was principally led by Chris and Victoria, practically leaving Lilo out. She didn't really mind about it. She was a lot more worried about Stitch. She knew it wouldn't be easy for him…

"Lilo?"

She turned her head at her friends with the same expression you'd expect of someone who just woke up from a dream. "Huh? What?"

"We said goodbye and you didn't reply," Victoria said, peering at Lilo with curiosity. "Everything okay?"

"Oh, uh, yeah… it's just about Stitch."

"Your dog?" Chris asked. Lilo kicked herself mentally. She had forgotten that Chris wasn't supposed to know about Stitch being an alien… not yet, at least.

"Uh, yeah! Stitch… I guess he's a bit sick, that's all… and… I'm going to take him to the vet… sorry guys, I guess I have my mind off somewhere else. See ya later!"

She waved at them and then walked quickly to get home earlier. After a few minutes, she was finally facing the door of the Pelekai residence. She entered with a sigh and then searched for Stitch with her eyes, but he wasn't there.

"Stitch!" She called, but got no response.

She went up to the dome and there he was, sleeping on his cot. However, he didn't seem to be having a good rest. Lilo had already lived several years with him, so she could tell when he was having a troubled sleep: he breathed slightly faster, he moved a lot more and he would occasionally groan. She didn't say anything to wake him up. She understood him, after all. Most likely, he hadn't slept anything last night, so he should be very tired. She knelt down beside his cot and started massaging one of his long ears, which calmed him down.

"Uhh… Lilo?" He asked with a sleepy voice as he started to wake up. Then his eyes opened slowly to look at her. Lilo smiled at him, but she looked at him as well with a look of worry in her eyes.

"Doesn't seem like you had a good night," she pointed out. Stitch sat up slowly on his cot.

"Naga. Stitch couldn't sleep. Meega thinking… about what Stitch should tell Angel," he grinned, but then his grin faded away. "Stitch scared, Lilo."

"I know, I know…" Lilo said as she bent down to kiss his nose softly. "You'll do it fine, don't worry. Just tell her how you feel. I'm sure she'll understand eventually."

Stitch gazed at Lilo for a few seconds, wishing she hadn't pulled away so quickly. He had liked that little kiss, but it was a shame that good things end so quickly.

"Ih… Stitch do good…" he repeated as he smiled slightly at Lilo. He yawned and Lilo chuckled.

"Well, guess you haven't eaten a thing in the whole day, right?" She asked with an amused smile. Stitch nodded and then Lilo stood up to go down to the kitchen, Stitch following after her.

After she had lunch and he had breakfast, they went into the buggy to go to Angel's house. The usually boring twenty minutes that took to get there passed quickly for Stitch, and before he knew what was happening they were already parked in front of Angel's house.

"Would you like me to go in with you, or you'd rather me to wait here?" She asked. Stitch nodded slowly.

"Ih. Stitch… rather going alone. Lilo stay here… please?" He said with a small smile.

Lilo nodded and followed him with her eyes until Angel came to the door and let Stitch in, not noticing Lilo, and then Stitch was out of her sight.

She sighed. _What a stupid question! _She scolded herself. _Of course he wouldn't like me to go in with him. This is something he has to do alone, not even with his best friend there. I guess I've been a little silly around him lately…_ she thought. She sighed once more and then turned on the radio of the buggy. She needed to get distracted.

Meanwhile, inside Angel's house, Stitch was already sitting down on the couch, nervously fidgeting with his fingers. Angel was in the kitchen, fixing a milkshake for both of them.

"So, how was your time with Lilo?" She asked aloud from the kitchen with interest. Stitch only shrugged.

"It was okay, I guess…" he replied. _Great, if you ask me. It's been the best week in my whole life. I was finally back with her!_ He thought, not letting the thought to go out as words.

"Oh… that's good," Angel said loudly and then came in with the milkshakes. She handed one to Stitch and then kept the other one for herself. "So, what's up?"

_That was the best I could ask? What's up? _Angel thought as she sighed inside. She knew Stitch had come to talk of something important, and she had a slight idea of what the subject was going to be about, but she wanted to be sure of it before making any conclusion. Stitch looked at her and then dropped his eyes.

"Uh, well… Angel, I… I think… what I mean is…"

_Blitznac, this is harder than I thought it would be! _Stitch thought to himself and then let out a heavy sigh. He looked at Angel once more, who was now sipping on her milkshake as she looked at him. He swallowed hard. He wouldn't make it take longer that it should.

"Angel, I want to be only friends with you… not boojibus. Don't take it the wrong way. I do love you, it's just that now I think that this has become more like… I don't know… it's just that now I think I only care for you as a friend."

Then he dropped his gaze, waiting for Angel's reply. He heard her let out a sigh she had been holding back and then heard her voice.

"I know… I understand. I have to confess I kind of was expecting this, someday, at some moment. It's okay, Stitch, don't worry. We can still be friends. I'm glad you told me your true feelings and didn't keep this for any longer."

Stitch lifted immediately his eyes to look at Angel, expecting to see some sample of sadness like a tear, but instead a smile remarked her beautiful face. She opened her arms to him and then he embraced her, feeling like a great weight had been taken off from his chest. They kept embracing for a few seconds more before pulling away, both smiling at each other as old friends.

"Thanks, Angel… I was afraid of telling this to you. I'm glad you didn't take this the wrong way." Stitch said as he squeezed friendly her hands. Angel squeezed his hands as well and then let them go, still smiling at him.

"I'm glad as well, Stitch. Thanks for telling me the truth."

"Yeah, well, you're welcome. Hey, what did you mean when you said you were already expecting this?" Stitch asked, getting suspicious. Angel smiled lightly at him.

"Well, I've seen you with Lilo these last days…"

Then Stitch felt all of sudden his cheeks tinge pink with his blushing.

"What did you see?" He asked slowly, glad to know that his fur covered his blushed cheeks. However, Angel caught on his nervous tone and continued.

"Well, I don't really know where to begin… oh, I know! That time I saw you two around the mall… remember the ice cream?" She said as she let out a giggle.

Stitch blushed even more fiercely and nodded, fearing that if he even talked it would come out as a squeak.

Angel went on. "And then two days ago when I went over to visit you and I saw you on the hammock with Lilo when she kissed your nose. I preferred not to interrupt, you know... I can see something's going on between you two…"

"What do you mean, Angel?" Stitch spoke up, clearing his throat. "Lilo and I are only best friends. She only needed me to be there for her. That's all." He looked at her, still trying to find any display of sadness on her factions, but her smile seemed to be genuine.

"I don't believe you," Angel said, remarking each word with a motion of her hands. Just to change the subject, Stitch spoke again.

"Angel, you're not sad about this… are you?" He said, quite doubtful. She sighed.

"To tell the truth, I felt about you the same way you felt about me. I think I only cared for you as a friend, Stitch, but I was scared as well… and I guess I still am." She said slowly.

"Oh, really? But why? What are you scared of?" Stitch asked, slightly taken aback.

"It's because, well… I don't know if I'm ever going to find somebody else to love…" She started. "I guess I was so scared of being alone that I always tried to have you beside me. I mean, you were always such a loving boyfriend, and you always said just what I needed to hear at the right moment. I don't know if I'll ever find somebody who does that too. What am I supposed to do now, Stitch? I'm glad you told me the way you felt about me now, but I'm scared of being alone, with no one to protect me. I had nobody else besides you! You're lucky to have Lilo and your Ohana…"

"But Angel… you're my Ohana too. You're not alone," Stitch said as he took her into his arms again. "Besides, you don't have to have a guy beside you to protect you. You'll see, you're going to find somebody else when the time comes, but please don't look for a guy just because you want to feel protected. Quick decisions end most of times in a bad way."

Angel smiled and pulled away to look at Stitch. By first time, he could see tears on her eyes, but they weren't sadness tears. They were happiness tears. "Thank you, Stitch. I'm glad to know that, if you're not my boyfriend anymore, at least I have a great friend in you."

She thanked him several times before Stitch left the house. They embraced goodbye and then Stitch went out, waving at her and Angel copying his gesture.

Lilo had fallen asleep on the buggy. Stitch climbed up and smiled at the sight. He had just started the ignition when Lilo stirred. She smiled, seeing it was Stitch beside her.

"How did it go?" She asked. Stitch smiled and then the car started moving forward.

"Stitch did good."

* * *

**R&R!**

**Okay, I'll explain a few things now. In first place: Yes, Stitch is starting to have problems with his memory because of the trip on time he did, but it's going to advance slowly. His memory won't erase all of sudden, it'll be slowly and in periods, so he'll be perfectly fine at one moment and then at the next he won't remember what he was doing or what he did.**

**Second thing: I had to take Jumba out for a while because if I let him stay in Kauai, then he'd realize immediately of what's going on and then there would be no story at all: it would be short and boring, so I made him leave to get things go on with nobody knowing what's going on.**

**Third**: **What do you think about Angel and Stitch breaking up? I'm not very sure if I wrote that scene very well, so I'd like to hear something about this... please?**


	11. Remeeting

Woah, I'm really surprised by the way I've been receiving reviews for both this story and 'Bring back my Angel'. I hope the next chapter of that story will be here around Friday, that is if I'm lucky enough to get mom to realize that I'm not addicted to the computer... yet XD. 

**Thank you all for your kind reviews!** I'm sorry if I hadn't this chapter sooner here, but I had been a bit busy around home and school (yeah, I just went out of school two weeks ago), but now that I've got my break officially, I can keep writing and updating. YAY!

Hope you like it!

* * *

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 11_

_Re-meeting_

School had never been so boring before, especially Chemistry class. Lilo waited eagerly for the pointer to reach the number three, but the clock seemed to have frozen. Ten minutes were way too much to bear. She had stopped hearing her teacher's voice since long ago, and all she could hear now was a faint voice buzzing on her ears. She yawned and then looked down at her notebook, inviting her to scribble down anything. She finally gave up and took her pencil and put the tip of it to the sheet of paper.

Meanwhile, in a "typical" Hawaiian blue house, a blue furred experiment searched for anything to do while his friend was absent.

Pleakley had tried to convince him to go with him to the mall so he would help him picking up his clothes. Since Jumba wasn't there to tell him how ridiculous he looked, he had to get somebody else to do that job while Jumba was out. _"So he doesn't look any more ridiculous than he already does with those outfits" _Stitch had thought after he escaped from Pleakley's eye. He had heard Pleakley finally giving up and going to the mall murmuring something about looking for some more professional help with the lady that used to sell him the clothes he wore. Stitch had chuckled to himself and had just gone into the dome after that little episode, but then boredom had started again.

Now he laid on his back and stared blankly at the ceiling, trying to find anything to do until Lilo was back from school. He sat up and took a little rubber ball from under his cot and just started tossing it to the wall and then catching it back.

Tossing and catching… tossing and catching.

It didn't make things any more fun, but at least it kept him busy with something to do.

Then one of those times he tossed the ball, it hit against the wall so hard that it went back too quickly to him. He dodged the ball and it ended up hitting the night table behind him and sprawling across the floor some notebooks that had been upon it. He gasped and then jumped off his cot to start picking up everything and placing it where it had been before. He had just picked up the last notebook when something slipped out of it and fell on the floor. Stitch picked up it and peered at it with curiosity, and then rolled his eyes when he recognized the magazine. The letters were big and bright and invited him to take the quiz.

_HOW TO KNOW IF YOU'__RE TRULY IN LOVE:_

_Is it a crush, or something more?_

Again, he found himself telling that it was only a cheesy magazine test that wasn't worth the time he would spend on reading it, but this time, his curiosity was bigger. _"Well, a little look at it won't hurt" _he thought to himself and opened the magazine to look for the quiz. Besides, after he thought about it a bit more, it would be interesting to see what Lilo might have answered… if she ever took the test.

--

Her mind was in some automatic-pilot state, because she wasn't even watching what she was doodling down on her notebook. She was just staring off into space and allowing her mind to wander randomly across her thoughts.

Then the bell finally rang. She was surprised that those ten minutes that had seemed to be ages away had passed by so quickly. For last time in the week, the whole classroom literally trembled as every student stood up from their seats and rushed for the door. The young woman that was their teacher just rolled her eyes and took her things from her desk. Just when she had been about to leave the room, she noticed that there was a desk that wasn't empty.

-Miss Pelekai? Are you alright?

Lilo snapped up her head to her teacher as she closed noisily her notebook.

-Uh, yes, Miss Bottcher… don't worry, I'm just taking last notes for my notebook.

The teacher seemed quite surprised, but she didn't question her young student.

-Well… I'll see you next Monday, then. Goodbye.

-Bye…

Then the classroom remained in complete silence. Lilo let out a relieved sigh and opened her notebook again to look for the doodle she had drawn. She didn't think she was a great artist, so she never thought her creations were important, but this one… this one sure meant something. On the white sheet of paper was the shape of Stitch's face, and around it she had wrote down several times his name and drawn various little hearts. She hesitated about what she should do with it. If she took it home with her, there was the risk of somebody finding it and thinking the wrong thing about it…

"_Or would it be wrong? I mean, I've been kind of… weird around Stitch. I'm sure there's something I can't quite figure out yet… so I'm not really sure if… dang, I'm plain confused. Just throw it into the trashcan, Lilo."_

Rip.

The girl went out of the classroom with fast steps and the crumpled sheet of paper went right into the blue trashcan. She should be focusing her mind more into school and doing her schoolwork and stuff like that. After all, she was going out of high school soon.

--

"_You've known this boy/girl for quite a long time."_

Stitch sighed heavily as he marked the option that marked _"Yes"_. It had been the last one. Now he had to read the result of this whole quiz he had taken. He started reading it with a lot of curiosity:

"_Congrats! You might have found the boy/girl of your dreams. Unlike to what most of people think, you've slowly developed feelings for this person through the time you've known him/her, and instead of falling in love "at first sight" it's very likely you've finally fallen in love for real. Friends, especially very close friends, end up many times falling in love with each other, and that's what has happened to you. Don't be afraid and tell him/her the way you feel. Don't worry, it shouldn't be too hard if you've been friends for a while. Go on now!"_

"_Cheesy, right?"_ Stitch thought with scorn after he was done. There was another possible result besides the one he had read, so he decided he would read it too, though not knowing why:

"_It's a simple crush. You've known this person for a really short time and you don't even know the things he/she likes and most of times you don't even know his/her name, but you know you really like him/her. Every time you see him/her pass by, you feel your heart accelerate its beat and your knees tremble, etcetera, etcetera, which makes you think you've fallen in love "at first sight". But that's not love. You've only got a crush on this person, but don't worry. Crushes might turn into true love after some time; that is if you get close to this person and first befriend him/her. You might as well fall in love or you just might realize that he/she is not the person you were looking for, so just let some time pass by and wait."_

Okay, this sure got his attention. He read and re-read it, not being able to believe it at all. Was this what had happened to him when he first met Angel? He shook the thought out of his mind. Of course he loved her… but it was more like a friends love now. Trying to think about something else, he scanned the page again, and then he noticed something he hadn't seen before. Right below the results, there were two circles with something written inside them. He realized they were to be filled with the names of the persons that fitted with these descriptions, but what caught his attention was the fact that they had actually written something on them.

…Then he recognized Lilo's calligraphy.

With huge curiosity, he eyed the first one below the "crush" description. It had Keoni's name in there. It didn't surprise him a lot, though. He knew that Keoni had been Lilo's biggest crush, but that was ages away. She didn't actually get over the red headed boy until she was eleven or so, but then that meant that this magazine was a lot older than he had thought at first. Then he looked at the other one, but much to his dismay, the name that seemed to have been written on there wasn't there anymore. It looked like if somebody had erased it. However, when he looked closer at it and for the way the waxy paper seemed to have sunk under the pencil tip, he thought there was the shape of an "S", the only more-or-less visible letter he could make out. He felt his heart rambling up against his chest. "_The only person that I know with that letter at the beginning of his name is…"_

-Stitch! I'm home! —came a female voice from downstairs.

Stitch felt now his heart stopping all of sudden with fright. Lilo's coming!

The platform whirred as it came up slowly. Finally, a tan girl was let in sight. She tossed her backpack at one side and looked ahead to see a bored Stitch, laying on his bed and tossing and catching an old rubber ball. He turned his head and when he saw the girl he jumped off of his cot with a big grin etched onto his face.

-Lilo!

The girl only had time to pronounce a "hey" and then she was tackled to the floor. The two friends laughed together as the blue alien licked his friend's face, welcoming her home. When he was done licking her face, the girl sat up and hugged him.

-How's my favorite experiment doing? —she said as she planted a loving kiss on the top of his head. Stitch felt his cheeks starting to go warm.

-Bored. Isa good thing Lilo home. —he said with contentment —. Pleakley wanted to take Stitch to mall. Stitch ran away and left him alone. —he concluded with a proud tone.

-Oh, you bad boy… disobeying your superior, huh? —she said teasingly as she let go of him and stood up —. I don't blame you anyway. I'd do that too if I had to go with him to the mall and stay there five hours to help him choose between a dress or a skirt. No offense to Pleakley, but he's not exactly got the touch to pick his clothes, and he's just too stubborn to accept any opinion.

-Ih. Stitch preferred to wait for Lilo here than going with Pleakley to mall. —he concluded and then felt his stomach growling. —. Stitch hungry.

Lilo giggled —. Well, let's have something. What about a piece of coconut cake at downtown? We're already out of it. —she invited.

-Ih! —Stitch accepted happily.

-Well, then what are you waiting for? Race you downstairs! —Lilo shouted all of sudden and then ran up to the lift. Stitch pretended to delay his race to the lift so Lilo would get there first and leave him alone in the room. When the platform had disappeared, he walked up to his cot. He had been about to lift the mattress of the cot when he felt a wave of pain wash over his brain. Then he stood up blankly, not knowing what he had been about to do.

"_What the heck was I going to do?" _he wondered confused. He struggled to remember, but whatever he had been about to do just slipped out of his mind as water would slip from rubber. He gave up and instead rubbed his head, which had started to hurt inexplicably. Probably it was his hunger, he concluded. He sighed and then rode down the platform as well, going downstairs to meet Lilo.

He had forgotten that he had hidden the magazine under his mattress and that he had wanted to take it back to the place it had come from.

Downstairs, Lilo was already waiting for him. She smiled when she saw him coming.

-What were you doing up there, huh? I was wondering if you were still alive. —she joked. However, instead of getting a spoken reply, she felt Stitch's hand wrapping around hers, interlacing his fingers with hers. She didn't say anything, though. She thought of it like the old times, when she and Stitch would hold hands without feeling anything in particular, but she couldn't help feeling warm inside.

They went out of the house like that, holding hands until they got to the town. There weren't too many people, though, so they felt safe with walking and holding hands until they made it to their favorite food local. Stitch sat down while Lilo went to ask for their coconut cake and a cup of coffee for Stitch. Stitch, meanwhile, fitted himself on the wooden chair. This place had been always there, since his first remembrances from Kauai. He would always come here with Lilo when they had been younger. The place got him somewhat nostalgic. In almost no time, Lilo was back with two big pieces of coconut cake and their drinks: coffee for him and chocolate for her.

Stitch dug immediately into his coconut cake, eating it with zest. Lilo just observed him with a dream-awake smile plastered on her face. He hadn't changed too much during the years she had known him. He still loved eating his food like this, sometimes even careless about the people who would watch him eat like that. She would think he looked funny, but this time she thought he could be even cute…

-Lilo no hungry?

She had to come back from her thoughts when she heard Stitch's concerned voice. Then she found him staring at her with a tilt of his head and a funny glance. She delayed a few seconds in regaining her composure and then stuttered a few words, telling him not to worry about her because she was just thoughtful.

Stitch only shrugged and started drinking some of his coffee, observing as Lilo started eating her piece of cake. Most likely she hadn't realized of it, but she was blushing. Stitch couldn't keep back a sly smile at this. He had just noticed how pretty she looked when she blushed…

-Uh… how was school? —Stitch asked slowly, trying to make up some conversation to break the dominant silence. Lilo gulped down the little piece of cake she had inside her mouth to answer.

-Same as always. Boring teachers teaching boring lessons. —she sighed and then lifted her eyes, remembering something —. Now that I remember, I read a poster at school during my break. There's going to be a dance in three weeks or so to gather some money for something I don't remember right now.

This caught Stitch's interest, though he couldn't even tell why.

-Lilo going to go?

-Not so sure. —Lilo said as she shook her head —. I don't really have anything to wear that day and it would be kind of silly to go all alone if nobody invited me to go with him.

-Oh… —Stitch said, looking away then back at his coffee —. Lilo wants to go?

-Maybe… —she waved it off and then continued to finish off the last bite of cake on her plate. Stitch was a bit surprised by Lilo's reply. She had never been interested in going to any dance at school because she hated being around girly girls, which were plenty at that kind of dances, but this time she seemed to be a bit interested in going there. A crazy idea shot through his mind. Maybe he could…?

"_Nah…that's just silly. What are you thinking about Stitch?"_ he thought as he threw into his mouth the last piece of cake. He had been having a lot of weird ideas lately, especially when it came to Lilo.

Before too long, both Lilo and Stitch were going out of the place and walking on the sidewalk. Since it was Friday, Lilo hadn't too much to worry about her homework, so she suggested Stitch to give a walk around the beach instead of going directly home, to which he agreed. While they were walking to the beach, Lilo felt the urge to start talking about anything.

-So, how's Angel doing?

Stitch was a bit taken aback by the question, but not disgusted by it.

-She okay. Angel told Stitch she writing to Reuben.

-Oh really? She's moving on pretty quickly. —she said, kind of teasingly. It had been barely one week since Stitch had broken up with Angel.

-Naga. She… been writing for a while, but never told Stitch. She thought Stitch be jealous. Reuben happy when he know… Angel no longer with Stitch. —Stitch replied, somewhat awkwardly.

By that time, they were now starting to step on the sand of the beach, which appeared to be made of gold because of the hiding sun tossing its last beams at it. Lilo sighed, allowing some water to touch her feet.

-And you…? What do you think about it?

-Meega happy for Angel. Maybe… she and Reuben boojibus after a while. But Stitch feels happy… being with Lilo again. Like old times.

"_What does he mean by that?" _Lilo wondered, feeling all of sudden the beat of her heart starting to accelerate and ram against her ribcage. She tried to calm down, but it was fruitless. Then she realized that she had something soft and warm wrapped around her hand. Then Stitch realized that he had been holding something thin and soft inside his hand.

Much to their surprise, though not dismay, they found themselves holding hands once more as they walked on the golden sand of the beach. None of them had realized of when they had just grabbed a hold of the other's hand, but none of them said anything or complained about it, trying to convince themselves that it was just like when they were kids. However, to Lilo it seemed like she had already seen this, somewhere else, somehow. Like she had dreamed about this before…

"_She felt a hand wrapping around hers, a hand that she knew very well…"_

Trying to get rid of the uncomfortable silence and get into a friendlier atmosphere, Stitch started running all of sudden, not letting go of Lilo's hand, as if inviting her to run around with him. Lilo was taken aback, but soon she found herself laughing as Stitch ran around with her hand locked firmly in his.

"_Stitch started running all of sudden, not letting go of her hand so Lilo would run with him too…"_

-Stitch! Let go of my hand! I'm not two feet tall anymore, remember?! —Lilo shouted between laughs at her blue furred friend.

-Gaba?! Stitch no heard Lilo well! Lilo has to repeat it again! —Stitch mocked as he brought his other hand to one of his large ears, like if he needed to do that to hear well what she had said. Lilo had been about to repeat it, but then she felt Stitch increasing his speed and making her increase her velocity as well. Lilo tripped and fell to the sandy ground, bringing Stitch down with her. They rolled on the sand, laughing and keeping their hold on their hands. Now it was Lilo's turn to stand up and start running with Stitch behind her. They could have been running like this for longer if it wasn't for the still undigested food that laid in both their stomachs, which made them stop eventually to take a break.

"_They laughed and ran for a few seconds before getting to a place with several palm trees making some shadow, inviting them to take seat on the sand under them…"_

Stitch pointed to a place with numerous palm trees, like if suggesting her to go over there to just sit down. Now this started to seem too familiar to Lilo, but she still couldn't figure out where she had seen this before. She nodded silently, not knowing what else to do, and then started to walk over there with Stitch following closely. They dropped tiredly on the sand, just observing as the sun started to hide behind the vast ocean and trying to get their breaths back.

Lilo whirled her head to look at Stitch briefly, who had been staring at her the whole while. When their gazes met they immediately felt the urge to look away at anything else, to stop their glances from meeting, like if trying to stop something that they knew could happen after that. Trying to find anything else to do, Lilo searched for a little branch, a rock or whatever that was near of her left hand to fidget with it, but instead she found Stitch's hand. Then she realized of how close they were to each other, which caused her to get more nervous than she already was.

Stitch wasn't any better than she was. He felt constantly that his heart would just skip out of his mouth at any moment. He had noticed as well of how close he had sat from Lilo; there was only a little gap between each other. He gulped loudly, trying to think of any other thing, but it wouldn't work. Oddly, even though they felt nervous around each other, they never tried to get an inch away from the other. Maybe they didn't move away to pretend that everything was okay, even though they knew it wasn't okay at all.

"_Calm down, calm down…"_ Lilo thought, bringing a hand to her racing heart.

-Gaba? —Stitch asked, turning his head at her. Lilo had let her thoughts out without even realizing of it.

-Huh, n-nothing… nothing… —she replied stuttering, turning her gaze at him and finding his gaze as well. This time, however, instead of just looking away as they had done first, they stared into the other's eyes, not wanting to turn away. Stitch looked down quickly at Lilo's lips, which were slightly parted. Surprised, he felt his knees trembling.

"_Stitch, you know what's going to happen if you don't give it a break now. Now you'll get away from Lilo and pretend nothing's happened. NOW! Earth to Stitch, did you hear me? I said NOW! NOW, NOW, NOW!! Why don't you just look away?!"_

"_Okay Lilo, this is getting too weird, even for you. What are you waiting for, huh? I know you've never been through something like this before, but I'd bet you know for sure what's going to happen next if you don't stop it right now. And RIGHT NOW seems like a good idea. No, wait… gah! Why can't you just look away somewhere else?! Stop it now, please!"_

However, none of them paid attention to their own thoughts and just shut them out. Instead, they started to close the little gap on between them, but especially the remaining space between their heads, not to say lips. Both their hearts raced against their chests, ramming with a crazed beat as they felt their breaths colliding against their faces and then they got closer… closer… almost there…

Then they felt a flash from a nearby camera.

That broke them out of their trance and made them look around for the one who had dared to take a picture. Stitch's throat emitted a low growl as Nosy came in view.

-Hey cousin! I see you know how to spend your time with a girl! —he said, and then noticed that the girl was Lilo—. Woah! Lilo?! Whatcha doin' with my cousin, huh?! Ooh, this is SO going to be interesting! I'd bet that if I get copies from the original photo and sell them I'd get rich!

This made Lilo blush a bright scarlet, while Stitch let out an angry growl and then went directly against Nosy's camera, tearing it to a thousand pieces. Nosy looked at the scene in dismay as Stitch destroyed it.

-Hey! That was MY camera!

-Naga takabah! It WAS! —Stitch replied angrily. Nosy sighed, slightly angered as well, but scared of his blue cousin. He was a coward when it came to affront Stitch.

-Okay, okay! No need to get angry! I can catch you two any other time, anyways. —he declared.

Too bad it wasn't the good thing to say.

Stitch stood up on a single jump and glared at him with burning fire on his eyes and a deep growl on the back of his throat. Nosy gulped. Stitch gave a quick step towards him, as if he was about to start chasing him. Nosy let out a scream and dashed away, while Stitch remained on the same place, smiling satisfied to himself. He dusted off the sand that had gotten on his hands and turned around to find Lilo looking at him.

As soon as she caught his gaze with hers she looked away, trying to conceal her flushed cheeks. All of sudden, Stitch felt his cheeks going warm as well, remembering what had happened barely a minute ago. He looked bashfully at the ground, trying to avoid the raven haired girl.

-I think we better go back home, Stitch… Nani won't like it if we're late for dinner. —Lilo said, breaking the silence.

-Ih… —Stitch agreed with a low voice, rather gladly. He wouldn't have known what to say to break this awkward silence if Lilo hadn't spoken first. He thought on helping Lilo up to her feet, but right after… that, he wasn't so carefree to even touch her. What would she think of him now? What would she say from now on about him after he had been about to kiss her?

Lilo stood up slowly. She started walking, and then Stitch just followed, dragging his feet until they got home. None of them said a single word to the other while they walked home, and even less when they got home. Stitch went for the dome and directly dropped on his bed, putting a pillow to his face to conceal his troubled stare and try to get some sleep.

With Lilo it was different. Instead of going somewhere and locking herself up to think about the last hour and clear her thoughts, she opted for sitting on the old couch and looking for anything to watch on TV. She flipped through the channels, and much to her relief she found an interesting show to watch. She sighed; she was really trying to ban any thought from the last hour with Stitch out of her mind and tried to focus on the TV, but she didn't succeed at all. Her eyelids started to feel heavy after half an hour. She gave a quick glance at the clock inside the kitchen, which was pretty visible from the couch, but it seemed too blurry now. With a yawn, she gave up and closed her eyelids, drifting off to Slumberland.

An hour later, Nani called everybody for dinner. Pleakley went out of his and Jumba's room, after cleaning every corner of it and keeping a few clothes he had just bought at the mall. Stitch came back from the dome, rubbing his eyes. He had really tried to sleep, but his thoughts would keep chasing him and he hadn't got any sleep. He went directly into the kitchen. Pleakley was the only one there, sitting at the table.

-Lilo… Lilo, wake up, baby. Dinner's ready. —he heard Nani's voice from the living room. The next thing he heard was a groan and then Nani came back from the living room.

-Stitch, could you take Lilo to her bed? I'm letting her have some sleep. —Nani said as she looked at Stitch.

He winced slightly at this, but didn't complain. At least Lilo was asleep and he wouldn't have to directly face her. He wondered why he felt the need of avoiding her as he started lifting her from the couch. She groaned once more, making Stitch feel uneasy, making him feel that she'd wake up at any moment and he would have to face her. Fortunately, she didn't. He lifted her and walked to the lift, being careful not to let her feet collide with the walls. When he was finally up, he immediately headed for Lilo's bed. He moved apart the blankets and then laid Lilo carefully on the soft mattress. He gave her a last look before leaving. He had to admit it, she was very cute, and maybe he'd dare to say she was beautiful. Before he even knew what he was doing, he bent down to place a soft kiss on her nose. Right after that, he strolled to the platform and went downstairs, a feeble blush settled on his cheeks. Anyway, nobody seemed to notice it and they ate in almost complete tranquility.

--

Stitch's ears twitched when he heard steps on the floor. His eyes went immediately for the clock: 3:35 am. Then he activated his night-vision and saw that Lilo was standing up on the platform, ready to go downstairs.

-Uhh… Lilo? —he said, somewhat sleepy —. What you doing?

-I think I heard noises from downstairs… —was Lilo's quiet reply. Stitch sat up immediately at this.

-Gaba?

-I don't know… I guess I just woke up and then I heard those noises… do you think it might be a thief inside the house? —she said the last part, quite nervous.

-Naga nota… Stitch check out. —he replied and then jumped off the bed. He stepped on the platform while Lilo gave him a rather worried look. Of course she had reasons to be scared. Neither Nani nor Pleakley were the kind of people who would just get up at nights to get a snack or a glass of water, and even if they did so, it wouldn't cause so much noise. The second reason she had to feel scared was that they never received what you'd call a 'normal' visit. It could be anything but a normal thief. Maybe Hamsterviel had escaped from prison and returned to Earth? Or maybe he had sent Leroy to a mission?

Stitch had already disappeared from the room. She couldn't hear anything that could possibly indicate that he was fighting against anything. Not being able to hold her curiosity and worry back, she stepped on the platform as well, preparing to go downstairs. Much to her surprise, Stitch was right on the entrance of the kitchen, observing with startled eyes whatever that was inside the kitchen. She walked up to him, wondering why he hadn't just gone int.

-This place is such a disaster! —she heard a female voice from the kitchen. She recognized the voice, but she couldn't tell in that very moment where she had last heard it and whose voice was it. Slowly, she peeked inside the kitchen. The lights allowed her to see a feminine figure. She could only see her back, but then the figure turned around. She resembled a lot to… she reminded her of… no… it _was _her.

-Mom?

* * *

**Vox Adam & 123qaz: Don't worry, I've got a pretty good explanation as for why Stitch is the only one who loses his memories. I hope you won't be disappointed by it, but right now it'll stay as a surprise until Jumba comes back and explains the whole thing. Your reviews have been really constructive, along with GodOfStorms', and they've been giving me a few more ideas for the story. Thank you, guys **

**Also, thanks to MisGelRcy. I had this chapter done thanks to a song she made me listen to, 'Fall to Pieces', by Avril Lavigne. It'd be good if you listened to that song while reading this chapter, especially at the part where Lilo and Stitch are at the beach**.** That song inspired me to write that part. Oh, and by the way...**

**MisGelRcy: This chapter goes dedicated to you as well. Hope you'll be feeling better as time goes by (hug). And about the video request, I'm not sure yet about when I'm going to have it ready. I've got to convince dad to delete a few things from the computer so I get enough space to make the video, so I don't have a precise date as to when you'll be able to find the video on Youtube. Don't worry, anyway**. **I'm going to let you know with a few days of anticipation before the video is ready to be watched on YouTube.**

**Thank you all guys for your kind reviews! I'm glad you've been liking this story so far and enjoying it****. Please keep reading & reviewing! **


	12. Finally back

Phew... next chapter of this story :) hope I didn't make you wait for too long. I wanted to update this morning, but my dang connection wouldn't let me update because it kept kciking me out. Well, anyway...

**Thank you all for the nice reviews! **They do really encourage me to get my chapters done sooner (if not as soon as I would like it, at least as soon as it is possible to me). This whole chapter is just about the first day that Lilo's parents spent with the new Ohana, meeting each one of them, so it kind of figured to me that it was kinda short, but oh well...

Hope you enjoy! :)

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**If I never met you**

_Chapter 12_

_Finally back_

-Who's that? —the woman asked slightly scared as she turned around, not recognizing the voice. Lilo had gone into the kitchen without even realizing of the motion of her feet and looked at her in total disbelief. How could this be possible? Was she dreaming again?

-Mom? Is that you?—she asked once more, trying to convince herself that this was just another dream of hers and that she'd wake up at any moment. She turned her eyes to Stitch, who stood on four paws by her side and looking at the scene as startled as she was.

-Nani? —the woman asked, quite doubtful. She realized immediately that this girl wasn't Nani, though. Her long, black straight hair cascaded down her back and her deep brown eyes looked at her with bewilderment, her head tilted to one side. Just like her little Lilo does when she's confused… and then realization hit her —. Lilo?

Lilo nodded slowly, without taking off her eyes from the woman. Yes, it was her! No doubt of it! She knew that long, wavy black hair and those chocolate eyes. It couldn't be true, though, because she had already realized she wasn't dreaming. Then how could it be possible? Without even realizing of it, she ran up to her mother and wrapper her arms tightly around her, feeling hot tears roll down her cheeks.

-Oh my God, Lilo, you're such a beautiful young woman now! —her mom whispered, crying as well as he held her little Lilo, now all a grown-up. How this could have happened all of sudden, she didn't know. She could have sworn that it was barely yesterday when she last saw her little five-year-old Lilo and now she comes back home to see a beautiful teenage who is even taller than she is and a body that is no longer the body of a little girl, but of a woman.

Lilo didn't pull away either. How much had she missed this pair of arms around her! That sweet voice that would talk to her whenever she was scared, those gentle hands that would caress her when she needed comfort, those eyes that used to look at her tenderly… all of these things she thought she had lost in that horrible accident, eleven years ago. Now all of those things were back all of sudden, making her want not to let go of her dear mommy. She had been yearning for a simple hug like this from her mom for all these years, and now she had it… and it was just too good to believe it.

-Mom… mommy… I missed you so much… —she murmured as she cried into her mom's soft hair. Her mom shushed her and whispered soothing words to her, caressing Lilo's long black silky hair. Well, she had her mom here, but then she remembered… what about her dad? She pulled away and then looked at her mom —.Where's Dad?

-I left him sleeping on the couch… he must be there. —her mom replied. Lilo left her mom's embrace almost roughly as she walked with quick steps to the living room. Her heart started racing when she noticed somebody sleeping on there, snoring softly. It was him… it was him… her daddy. She closed the space between her and her dad, walking now slowly as if fearing it was still another dream of hers. She knelt down beside her dad and rested her arms on his chest. He groaned a bit and opened an eye.

-Uhh… Nani? What are you doing up at this hour? —he asked. However, somebody turned on the lights and he realized quickly that this girl wasn't Nani. He sat up hastily, quite surprised. He didn't know who this girl was… though there was something familiar about her…

-Daddy… it's me, daddy. —Lilo said softly, more tears starting to trail down her cheeks. The man rubbed his eyes and looked at her again.

-L-Lilo? —he finally stuttered, not believing it at all. Lilo smiled at him and hugged him tightly. Her dad hugged her back.

-B-but how…? How is this possible? —he asked startled —. I'd swear you were five yesterday!

-I don't know… —Lilo replied, not letting go of him —. But I missed you two a lot… you have no idea of what it was like… not having parents…

-Oh, honey… it's okay… whatever happened before, we're here now… —her dad said soothingly, stroking her back softly and cradling her in his arms.

-Uh, Lilo? —a drowsy voice came from the corridor, and then Nani was let in sight —. What is all that noise in here? You know, some of us are trying to get some… MOM?!

A gasp. Then Nani passed out.

-Nani! —everybody shouted, the two adults being the most surprised. She fell to the ground, but somebody caught her. Lilo sighed with relief.

-Put her on the floor, Stitch. —she commanded, wiping a few tears off of her face, and Stitch laid Nani on the carpet of the living room. By first time, they noticed him. Lilo's parents looked at Stitch with shock.

-W-what's that thing?! —Lani asked, seemingly scared. Kale stood up in a jump and grabbed Lilo and his wife.

-Don't panic… just go out of the house and I'll get Nani…

-Mom, dad! Don't worry, that's just Stitch! —Lilo said, escaping from her dad's grip and walking over to Stitch —. He's my best friend!

Stitch walked on four paws to the two adults and sniffed them, his eyes scanning them carefully. Lani smiled a bit, finding him quite cute, and then patted his head —. Hey, he's a cutie after all.

-Ih? Thank you. —Stitch replied, getting on his hind legs and smiling at Lilo's mom.

Then the look of horror came back to their faces —. D-did it just talk?

-Stitch is not an 'it'. —Lilo said. —. Okay, so I guess I should introduce you. Stitch, these are my mom and my dad.

-Ih, hi-i-ie! —Stitch greeted, very much like he did when he first met Lilo. Lilo smiled at this and then went on.

-And mom, dad, this is my best friend, Stitch.

-Uh, hi… —Lilo's dad greeted, getting over the fright. Lani only waved at him, still doubtful about this whole thing.

-Stitch is an alien from outer space. I met him when I was six at the dog pound. Long story, but to make it shorter…

-Lilo! What happened to Nani?! —a shrilly voice interrupted Lilo. Now everybody turned around to see Pleakley, who stared back. He ran away and then he was back with a wig on his head two seconds later and a pink gown. Kale leaned over Lilo's ear.

-That's not a girl, is it?

Lilo shook her head —. No, he's not. He's not even a human. Uh, Pleakley, these are my mom and my dad…

-WHAT?! B-but I-I thought you…! I thought…! WEREN'T THEY DEAD OR SOMETHING SO!

-Uh… yeah? —Lilo replied, a confused look etched on her eyes. Pleakley's eye didn't move away from these adults, who had been introduced to him as Lilo's supposedly 'dead' parents. His jaw had dropped to the floor.

-B-but…! What on the Horse Nebula is going on in here then!? How could they…? Oh, this must be another of Jumba's evil experiments, right? One of those little monsters must have done this…!

-Uh, Pleakley, I don't think so… there's no experiment that could have possibly done this… —Lilo said, quite doubtful. Now that she gave it some thought as well, she had no idea of how her parents were here all of sudden. She turned to Stitch, slightly suspicious and at the same time looking for some kind of explanation in his factions —. Stitch… do you have any idea of how my parents could possibly get here… alive?

-Naga. —Stitch replied quickly, thinking it was best if Lilo didn't know about it right now. He didn't want to tell her right now, but maybe he could tell her later, he decided. Lilo looked again at her parents, confusion filling her face as she thought of some possible explanation for this. Not finding one at all, she gave up.

-Well, maybe after all it WAS some experiment… —she said, not quite sure though. She still couldn't remember any experiment that could bring dead people back from the afterlife, but there wasn't any better explanation than that one. Besides, the joy of having back her parents was greater than anything she could feel in that very moment, so she could careless anyway.

-Well then, can ANYONE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE THEN?! —Pleakley cried out. Lilo rolled her eyes. Pleakley was so melodramatic sometimes…

-My parents are back and that's all what matters to me —Lilo said, then walked over again to her parents and hugged them happily —, and they're never gonna leave me alone again… nope… never.

Stitch looked at the whole scene with a smile on his face and a warm feeling in his heart. Lilo was smiling again, and what made him feel even warmer was the fact that he had been the one who had caused her to smile like this again. Lilo pulled away and then looked at her parents. Now she was totally convinced that she wasn't just dreaming.

-Uh, well, I should keep going on with the introductions. Well, mom and dad, this is Pleakley. Pleakley, these are my parents, Lani and Kale Pelekai.

-Hello there, nice to meet you! —Pleakley extended one of his skinny hands happily towards Lani and then to Kale. The both shook Pleakley's hand, still quite confused about why in the world he would be using a girl nightgown and a wig that resembled to a girl's hair.

The man leaned over Lilo's ear again —. Is he gay?

Lilo looked at Pleakley and then whispered back —. I really have no idea sometimes…

--

Next morning, everybody was at the table, ready for breakfast. Lilo had offered her bed to her mom and dad and she had slept in Jumba and Pleakley's room, occupying Jumba's empty bed. Stitch wasn't quite comfortable with sleeping in the same room than two persons he had just met and without Lilo there, but it would have seemed too weird if he had asked Lilo to sleep in the same room, not to say bed, than she did, so he didn't complain about it and just slept on his cot for the rest of the night. Besides, with all what had happened barely yesterday he wasn't so carefree around Lilo yet. Nani had woken up until that morning and she was still shocked to see her parents all of sudden on their kitchen, but after a couple hours she was completely calm.

The girls' mom had offered to prepare breakfast that morning, and while she had been preparing it, Lilo explained everything to her and her dad about what had happened during the years they had been absent, from the day she met Stitch to the day they defeated the Leroys and were back on Earth. The rest of those years, well, they'd learn what had happened later on, but by now it was more than enough. The couple listened with great interest at all what their daughter had told them

-Okay, so let me see if I understood: this friend of yours, Stitch, is actually an alien that was made by an Evil Genius…

-Former Evil Genius. Now he's just a genius, but he doesn't like to admit it.

-Oh, well, but he was made by a genius along with another 625 experiments that are Stitch's 'cousins', and you spent three years catching them all and turning them from bad to good and saving them from an evil gerbil genius who wanted to rule the universe with their help… right?

-Yep, that's it.

-Gee, this is so complicated… —Kale said, rubbing his forehead —. But what could I expect from eleven years of not being here?

-It's good to know that you've got such a good friend like Stitch. —Lani had paid great attention to Stitch and Lilo's friendship details. She was actually very happy to know that while they weren't present, Stitch had filled that space that they had left empty when they had 'died' —. Stitch, mahalo plenty. You have no idea of how thankful I am to you.

Stitch smiled and gave her a nod —. No problem. Stitch loves Lilo a lot —he blurted before he could even stop himself from saying that. Lilo was looking at him with a funny, confused look. He looked quickly at her and then back at her mom nervously —. Uh, Stitch mean… friend! Achie-baba!

-Of course, I understand it. —Lani smiled back and patted his head —. It would be a little weird if you loved her in some other way.

-Eh… heheh, yeah… —Stitch giggled nervously, while Lilo looked at her mom with a look that clearly said 'please don't say any more or I'll blush uncontrollably and then it'll be too obvious'. However, Lani didn't seem to notice it and went on.

-And well, any boyfriend I should know about, Lilo?

-NO!

Both Lilo and Stitch looked at each other awkwardly and then looked apart quickly. Both Lani and Kale seemed quite confused.

-Oh, well… and what about you, Nani?

-Uh, well… David proposed to me a couple months ago, but we're still saving some money for the wedding.

-David?! You mean David Kawena?? —Kale looked at her daughter with eyes as big as plates. Lani laughed at this.

-Oh, don't pay attention to your father. You know, I think he'll always be a little jealous of whoever takes his 'little' girls away from him. It's great to know about that, Nani. Then when will your wedding be?

The conversation had apparently gone another way, but the issue would still make Lilo and Stitch a little nervous, Stitch in particular. When he heard the part about Lilo's dad being jealous of whoever took Lilo away from him, he couldn't help turning his eyes to him and look thoroughly at him, evaluating how much danger he would mean to him in case he ever… well… took the next step with Lilo in their relationship. He was actually surprised by his reaction, realizing of the reason he had to be scared of Lilo's dad. It wasn't like he was falling for her, right? Well, maybe if he had thought about it a couple of days ago he would absolutely assure himself that he wasn't falling for Lilo, but after that evening on the beach, well… he wasn't so sure anymore.

-Well, breakfast is ready! —Lani announced, putting a plate of eggs and bacon in front of everybody. Nani sighed with relief.

-Oh mom, it's so good to taste your food again.

-Yeah, because Pleakley is the one who is always preparing breakfast —Lilo murmured. Pleakley gave her an angry look.

-Just what did you mean by that? —he asked.

-Nothing! —Lilo replied quickly. Pleakley's eye turned into a slit.

-Are you sure?

He got his reply with an egg and a piece of bacon on the face, forming a smiley. Stitch laughed in hysterics at this while Lilo smiled thankfully at her blue friend and Nani rolled her eyes.

-Stitch, please not again…

-Dude, that was funny! —Kale said, but immediately corrected himself at her wife's reprimand look —. I mean, uh, Lilo, please tell Stitch to behave correctly.

-Oh Stitch, you little bad guy. —Lilo mocked an angry face, though there was a smile spread across her lips.

-Why, you little monster! —Pleakley yelled angrily —. I demand an apology!

A hotcake on Pleakley's face and some maple honey. Stitch smiled this time at Lilo, who had her spoon situated like a catapult on her plate. She smiled back at him with complicity, but neither Nani nor her mom smiled.

--

-I had never been so happy of being punished in my room by my mom. —Lilo said in the evening, laying on the floor with Stitch's head above hers, laying across the floor as well —. But well, it was fun after all.

-Ih. —Stitch replied, his eyes closed as he listened to Lilo's voice. He heard Lilo sighing happily.

-Well, it seems like my dad did really like you. I always thought that if he had ever got to know you he would have liked you a lot, and now I could see it was true.

This brought some relief to Stitch, making him think that after all, his possible father-in-law wasn't so bad after all. His eyes popped open at that thought. _"Possible father-in-law? What are you thinking about, Stitch! Sheesh…!"_

-My mom sure liked you too —Lilo went on —, but she's more like Nani, so she is a little hard. Don't worry, even though her temper might scare you at times, she's a great person. Remember, she likes you a lot just because you're my best friend…

-Meega like Lilo's parents too… —Stitch said. He rolled on his side, belly on the floor and his head supported by his arms, resting on the floor, and then looked at Lilo —. Lilo happy parents back, ih?

-Yeah, I sure am. I feel like our Ohana is finally complete —Lilo replied and then sighed —. I had missed them so much… I really have no idea of how they could have possibly got back, but it's like all of the prayers I said while I was a little girl were answered. I still wonder how this could have happened… I mean, I don't remember any experiment that could do something like… this.

Stitch looked at the ground for a moment, wondering if it would be the right moment to tell Lilo about it…

-Stitch took Jumba's time surfboard… they here because Stitch saved them.

Lilo's eyes went wide open at this and she immediately sat up.

-You WHAT? But Stitch… do you remember what Jumba said about changing events from the past to change the present? He said it was too dangerous!

-But nothing happened! —Stitch defended himself. That got Lilo to calm down slightly.

-Uh, right… but how could that have happened? I mean, that time when we used Jumba's time machine everything had changed a lot when we got back, and nothing has happened this time. —she shook her head confused, and then looked up at Stitch —. I'm sorry I yelled at you, Stitch, it's just that I freaked out… it got me scared… to think that maybe I'd lose you because I know that if my parents had never died then maybe Nani would have never brought me to the dog pound to buy you. I just can't imagine… I don't want to imagine what my life would have been like if I had never met you. I would have missed a lot of things on how wonderful it's like to have a friend like you.

-But that no happen… —Stitch crawled to her and took her hands in his —. Stitch here, and Stitch never gonna leave Lilo. Lilo is Stitch's Ohana… Stitch never leave Lilo behind or forget her. Never. Remember? Stitch promised Lilo he be there for her always… to protect her.

Lilo's mind went back to that night she had her horrible nightmare, the one she still couldn't remember. That night Stitch had promised her that he would be always for there… and she knew that Stitch would never deceive her with something like this.

-I know, I know… I just got scared. I'm sorry, Stitch, I'm so silly sometimes. Well, now I guess I should thank you for bringing back my parents —she smiled slightly at him and then hugged him as she had never hugged him before —. Thanks a lot, Stitch. —then she pulled away slightly to give him a peck on the nose, forgetting about the events of yesterday —. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you. I love you.

Stitch felt his heart rambling against his chest wildly and his cheeks go ridiculously warm. Unlike to Lilo, the events of last day were still pretty clear on his mind, but he didn't want to pull away either, so he just hugged her back, hesitating a little at first. _"Who cares?" _he thought. _"She's just thanking you, so why not?"_ His arms wrapped around her waist as he held her to him, feeling that warm feeling inside him once more.

A wave of pain washed over his brain once more, and then the events of the morning with Pleakley and their punishment was erased from his memory, but he didn't mind too much… as long as he had Lilo in his arms, everything would be alright.

* * *

**Special thanks to VoxAdam, 123quaz and GodOfStorms. I do really appreciate your reviews because they're different (not better from the others, I'm not doing comparisons). They've been helping me a lot in the developing of the story :) thanks, guys. **

**As for the other reviewers, thanks a lot too! It makes me thrilled to see that you're liking this story so far **

**Yeah, poor Stitchie is starting to lose his memory. I don't know if you've noticed it, but it started like two chapters ago: he starts forgetting the most simple things, and as time goes by, he'll forget more relevant things. I'm planning on writing like four chapters more in which he'll keep forgetting things and yet, getting closer to Lilo, but I might as well write more chapters than just four. You know, sometimes my mind gets hyper ;P Thank you all again! Please R&R!**


	13. Bet

Phew! I did really delay in updating, LOL. I'm sorry: I've been kinda (okay, VERY) busy with schoolwork and stuff. I rarely go on Internet anymore or write something that isn't for school, but two weeks ago or so I had a little break from school and I could write most of this chapter. Thank goodness that I hadn't any schoolwork to do today and that I had enough time to get this chapter done. Unfortunately, the next chapter for 'If They Come Back to You' will delay a bit more. How much I wish we were on vacation right now! -sigh-

Now that I let that out...

**Thank you all for your kind reviews!**

**rosvo: **That was a pretty good point. I never thought somebody would actually ask me that, but thanks for the question. If you noticed, Lilo's parents could only remember her as their little five-year-old girl, and then sixteen-year-old Lilo finds them. I wanted to show that they, somehow, were brought from that night eleven years ago. Maybe it doesn't seem to make any sense, but I hope that it will when Jumba gets to explain everything.

**ChristianDragon**: Thanks a lot! I'm glad you're liking this story so far :)

**EclecticMe: **Yep, I had thought about that too, but it fitted better (at least in the story plot) if they came back right at the time Lilo is sixteen. It would make the story somehow more interesting if they came back after eleven years of not knowing anything about their family to suddenly find that everything has changed. And about Stitch turning to evil, not yet. He's just loosing short-term memories that have nothing to do with his goodness/badness 'levels', so that's why he's still good. At the point where he starts to forget important things that already have something to do with him being good... that's where the problem starts, and that's when he starts to become evil again. Don't worry, that part isn't far away (two chapters more or something so). Oh, and I'm glad you're liking the story as well (glad to know that my romance stories are not iffy!... at all at least xD). And about getting a beta... well, it actually sounds good to me! :) But I don't really know who I'd ask to be a be a beta to check my stories... well, anyway, thanks again and no, you didn't sound too critical xD

**VoxAdam: **Yes, I pretty much thought it would be kinda hard to give Lilo's parents a well-defined personality, but after watching the movies SO many times, I could kind of figure out what they were like -well, maybe not at all, but at least I could get an idea of their personalities-. And by the way, I apologize to you too. I know you don't like it a lot when a story takes too much time to develop because you have to read some of the last chapters to get a better view of the story (I don't remember right now in which story or chapter you said it, but your words were pretty much stuck on my mind).

**123quaz: **Glad you've been liking the story's developing xD In fact, I took your idea of Lilo's parents meeting David again (hehee! xD Hope you'll like that part) and some of the experiments. In the next chapters, they'll be still re-meeting some old friends, by the way. Unfortunately, I don't think Nani would have all the day for herself again. After all, she is soon getting married! She needs to have an adult style of life from now on, but the good thing is that she won't be killing herself with work.

**GodOfStorms: **LOL, yeah, the 'possible father-in-law' thing seemed so funny in that moment to me xD So I thought it would be funny if I kind of let it in in this story. Too sad it won't come true... And about your L&S masters list, well... I've gotta admit that I haven't read any fics of a few authors you mentioned. But so far, I liked it ;)

I wish I could make better replies to all of you, but right now I'm short of time, so... here you go!

* * *

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 13_

_Wanna go to the dance?_

It was a glorious Sunday morning, which was perfect for the whole Ohana. Tourists were everywhere and the weather was warm, and Lilo, Stitch, Pleakley and Nani were giving the two adults a tour around the island, mainly introducing them to several of Stitch's cousins. They had already bought some ice creams at Slushy and Dupe's, seen Swirly giving a show for a party, Holio picking up some trash along with Ploot and several other experiments at the beach. And it was just morning! Now Lilo was showing her parents Experiment 501 and 502, better known as Ying and Yang.

-…the one over there is Yang.

-You mean the red one?

-Yep, that's him. And the blue one is Ying.

-You mean the octopus thingy?

-Ih!

The lava and water experiments heard voices and then noticed their friends looking at them from the shore along with other two strangers. They waved at them happily and continued to make their own island diligently.

-Oh, and the one over there is Cannonball! —Lilo said quickly, pointing at a pink, big experiment in the process of jumping into the water. Everybody's eyes followed and then the girls' parents watched in awe as huge waves came from that apparently little creature.

-Wow, awesome! —Kale said with a smile on his face —. It's been so long since I last saw one of those water monsters! We must come sometime here to ride 'em just like we used to!

-Oh Kale —Lani said giggling —. You're still a teenager…

-Lilo, show them where Sparky is —Nani said while shoving Lilo, only slightly. Lilo could see that Nani had somehow changed. She was a lot more jovial right now than she had been in the last years… it was like she had her young sister back, instead of her tutor. Smiling as well, she pointed to an old light house and motioned her parents to look at it.

-Remember the light house? Well, another of Stitch's cousins, Sparky, is working in there.

-You mean the old light house? But it hasn't been functioning by, like ten years or so! It was too expensive, if I remember well. —Lani said amazed.

-Yeah, but that was over when Sparky came along. Now he powers it and has fun doing it. —Lilo explained. She laughed a bit —. He needed something big to play with. Oh, and over there! That's Kixx…!

Stitch observed as Lilo explained her parents about the experiments they saw. He couldn't speak that well to Lilo's parents because they hardly understood him whenever he said something, which was something that the rest of the Ohana had already gotten used to, so he just listened and observed. He had a big toothy grin on his face the whole time; after all, it seemed that his plan of bringing Lilo's parents back had been a good idea. Whenever he looked at Lilo's beautiful smile, he would know that it hadn't been in vain.

-Hey Stitch —Lilo's voice made him come back to reality —. You're pretty quiet today. Something's wrong?

-Naga —Stitch shook his head and looked at her —. Just… thinking. Meega naga takee deega… deega naga nota Turian.

-Oh, I see… — Lilo said —. You don't talk to them that much because they can't understand you when you say something in Turian, right?

-Ih. —Stitch replied —. Lilo and Nani and Pleakley can. They no. No Turian. Naga understand Stitch.

-Then why don't you just talk in English?

-Meega got bad English. —Stitch made a grimace. Lilo smiled and patted his head.

-Oh well, they'll get used to your talk. We all did. —She said reassuringly and then leaned over him to say in a suspicious tone —… or is there something you don't want them to know so you never speak in English to them?

Stitch couldn't help to blush a little at this, while Lilo just giggled innocently, not noticing Stitch at all. He knew that Lilo didn't mean anything in particular, but it made him think… well, he sure didn't want them to find out of his crush in Lilo. That is if it was a crush. What if it was something more? He shuddered, not wanting to know what would happen to him. Just like if it had been a sign, they heard a very familiar voice talking to them.

-Hey, guys! —David greeted when he noticed Lilo and Stitch. He had been waxing a surfboard, so he first stood up completely and then waved at them —. What's…? WHOAH! Mr. and Mrs. Pelekai!

-Hi David — Lani said —. Long time no see you, huh son? —she said fondly before walking up to him and embracing him in a motherly manner.

-Yeah… son… —Kale said somewhat bitterly, though just wanting to tease David. The surfer boy heard that tone and immediately looked at his future father-in-law. This was too much for poor David. Weren't these people dead or something so?… or maybe he was dead as well…

-Ouh-wee! I guess I really should stop drinking that pineapple juice at Keiki's. —he said, trying to joke and failing miserably. Lani pulled away and smiled warmly at him and then everybody, especially Nani, observed expectantly as Kale looked at David. Finally he went forward and embraced the boy tightly as well.

-You better respect and take care of my baby —he said after pulling away. —. Have you ever seen me mad at someone?

-Uh… not that I remember —David said innocently. Kale slung his arm around the boy's shoulders and whispered to him —. Well, I'm sure you don't want to…

This made David gulp loudly and go pale, while Lani huffed —. Kale, it's enough. You're making David scared!

-Okay, okay… —Kale huffed back and then smiled genuinely at David —. Don't worry, I'm just kiddin', son. I know you're gonna treat Nani right. You're a good boy. Always been one.

He patted David's shoulder one more time before Nani walked over to David to greet him nervously. As she embraced him, David whispered to her —. What the heck's going on?

-Long story, tell you later —Nani sighed.

-He's still the same, right?

She chuckled. —You should have seen your own face. He's the same… or maybe a bit worse than before. —she smirked. David pushed her playfully and then hugged her tightly again.

-Aww, isn't this SOOO romantic! —Pleakley said with a tear in his eye.

-Hey, hey lovebirds, parents are present here. —Kale reminded them, tapping his foot on the sandy ground, pretending to be annoyed, but inside he was smiling widely.

-Dang it Kale, it's not like he tried to kiss her!

Wrong thing to say.

-Hey everybody! Whatcha doin'? —a voice came from behind them all. Lilo groaned in dismay while Stitch growled.

-Nosy… —Lilo said, somewhat annoyed. She sure didn't want him to be there in that very moment, because, well… his primary function was to reveal embarrassing secrets, and he had just found a very embarrassing one concerning to her and Stitch.

-Oh, so this is another of Stitch's cousins? —Lani asked smiling. She had already taken a liking to the experiments, which was quite surprising to Lilo considering how much of a protective mother she was and how dangerous would seem some experiments. Nosy nodded with zest and approached the woman.

-Experiment 199, aka Nosy, at your service, Mr. and Mrs. Pelekai! —he greeted and then made a reverence. Both adults seemed fazed.

-Hey, how'd you know…? —Kale started, but Nosy interrupted him.

-I have my resources to find out anything, sir. —He said proudly, and then looked at Stitch and Lilo, his smile growing bigger. —Like, for example, about these two lovebirds. —he said, pointing at them. —If only you knew! It was like two days ago.

Lilo looked in complete shock and horror the whole scene, unable to do anything at all except blush and stare. Stitch's eyes had widened to the point they looked like two big holes on his face. Everybody, especially Lani and Kale, seemed VERY interested in whatever Nosy had to tell them about Lilo and Stitch.

-I was walking bored around the beach with nothing to do at all—Nosy continued happily—, and then I saw them. They were right about to… hey, what're you doing, cuz? I'm about to reveal one of the biggest hush-hushes in my life! Why don'cha… Huff!

Stitch had immediately recovered from his shock and his faster-than-supercomputer mind had already made up a plan to get rid of the scandalmonger experiment. Growling, he had grabbed Nosy by the arm. A man was selling balloons near there, so Stitch had quickly 'borrowed' a red balloon (the biggest one he found) and made Nosy inhale the whole content of the balloon. Why in the world a man would be selling balloons right at the beach is something that we will never get to know, but Stitch was thankful for that.

Finally, he let go of Nosy, expecting him to fly away like a lost balloon, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. Maybe he was too heavy, he didn't know. At first, Nosy remained speechless, but then he started speaking again, this time with a funny shrilly voice.

-I caught them both about to… Augh!

More balloons. One following another at an incredible speed. Nosy's belly gradually grew bigger and bigger until Stitch finally let him go, and this time, he did fly away… literally.

-Rock a' hula, Stitch! —Lilo cheered while Stitch simply let out a sigh of relief and happiness. However, the man who was selling the balloons didn't seem any happy, but was tapping his foot angrily on the ground. It was then that Stitch realized by first time that the man had no balloons left to sell and gulped nervously. Kale, feeling sympathy for Stitch, approached the man.

-Don't worry, I'll pay all what he did… how much is it? —He said, taking out his wallet.

-150 bucks, pal.

-WHAT?!

The wallet had gone to the ground. Kale followed.

-And to think that they used to do this the whole time —Nani said and then frowned at her sister and her blue companion. They waved at her nervously, but it didn't work. There's no need to tell that they were grounded again that day. And it was barely morning!

--

Monday morning. Lilo had to get up as early as usual to go to school. It would have been like any Monday morning to Lilo if it wasn't for the fact that this time her dad drove her school. He had insisted in knowing the school she was attending to this time, so she had only shrugged and allowed her dad to do what he wanted to do.

While they were on their way, Lilo supported her chin on her fist and looked outside, observing the countryside. She heard her dad complaining about how much the roads had changed and how much more traffic was settled on streets that were empty before. She didn't mind it though. She was more into her thoughts than anything else. How her parents had come back into their lives. How everything would be from now on. And she was thinking as well a lot more often about Stitch… maybe a more often than a friend should. She was beginning to realize of him as something more than just a friend, and not exactly in a brother manner. He had never been her brother. Sisters cannot fall in love with their own brothers, so that was not the case. He had always been a friend of hers, a friend she was starting to fall in love with… apparently. Now as the idea came to her, she didn't reject it, as many other times before she did. _"What are you doing to me…?"_

-My, aren't you quiet. —her dad's voice shook her out of her thoughts. She winced only slightly and then looked at her dad.

-Huh? What? Am I too quiet?

-Well, knowing the way you are, yes, you're pretty quiet today. You're nervous about some test at school or something?

-No.

Then silence. They were almost there… there.

Lilo climbed out of the car and kissed her dad goodbye on the cheek.

-See you later, dad.

-Bye, hon.

Then she watched as her dad's car went away. Somebody whistled and she turned her head. She smiled, seeing it was just Chris and Victoria. She walked up to meet them. —Hey guys! What's up?

--

After a good three hours or so, the bell ringed through the halls and classrooms, letting every student know that their recess time had begun. Everybody in Lilo's classroom had let out a sigh of happiness. Algebra wasn't their favorite subject, after all. Lilo let herself get carried away in the crowd, a little trick she had learned if she didn't want to get crushed in the sea of students… or at least not so crushed. She only struggled to get out when she was already in the place she wanted to be in; she had seen Victoria ahead. She called her name and then the brunette turned her head, smiling when she noticed that it was Lilo.

-Looking for some kind of new ad? —Lilo asked when she was close enough. Victoria nodded, and then Lilo brought her eyes to the poster that Victoria had been reading a couple seconds ago. Her eyes widened slightly when she recognized the poster that she had seen last week, announcing a dance at the school's gym.

-Are you going to the dance? —Victoria asked. Lilo shook her head a little.

-Not so sure. I don't think I would get anybody to come with me, anyway. And what about you? —Lilo asked her, not moving her eyes from the poster. Victoria blushed a slight pink when she replied.

-Chris invited me to go with him.

This caught Lilo's attention. She immediately removed her eyes from the poster and looked at her friend, somewhat taken aback.

-He what?? But… I thought he liked you as… oh, never mind. That's something good, Vicky. When did he ask you?

-Last weekend. He sent me an e-mail, LOL. —Victoria chuckled nervously.

-That's pretty much like him. Too shy, right? —Lilo smiled widely.

-Nope, I just didn't want to screw it up with my blabbering or stuttering. —a male voice replied from behind.

-You had it so well hidden, didn't you Chris? —Lilo rolled her eyes, though she was still smiling. She couldn't deny that she was somewhat relieved that Chris had gotten over his crush on her and had moved on to another person, though she had to admit as well that she didn't expect it to be Victoria.

Chris' arms slung over both girls' shoulders in a friendly manner. Lilo punched him playfully and Victoria snuggled closer to him, only slightly. The three teens laughed and then made their way to the cafeteria.

-So, anybody invited you yet, Lilo? —Chris asked curious. Lilo shook her head once more in a negative manner.

-Nah, it's just like every year. I've never really liked the idea of that kind of school dances. There are too many girly girls and I…

-Hey, hey, hold it. How do you know you wouldn't like it? They're a lot of fun if you go with the right person. —Chris reasoned.

-But…!

-Hold it. At least try it one only time; I bet you'll like it a lot.

-And what if not? —Lilo asked in a teasing way.

-You'll get free lunch for a whole month in the cafeteria. Deal?

Lilo seemed to think about it for a while and then nodded; taking the hand that Chris had offered her, she agreed. —Deal.

-So, who's going with you? —Chris asked, finally letting go of Lilo's hand.

A picture of Stitch flashed through Lilo's mind, but she shook the idea off instinctively.

The bell rang once more, announcing that the recess time was over. The three friends waved goodbye at them and then went off to their next class. Lilo was thankful; she had been saved by the bell. Even though she tried to concentrate on anything else, the idea of going with Stitch to the dance seemed quite appealing to her…

The rest of the day flew by. Lilo had gone home and had done her homework; it all had happened so fast that she couldn't remember later on all of the things she had done in that lapse of time. The only thing that kept clear on her mind was the idea of Stitch taking her to the dance. Of course, it was a weird idea, and maybe (just maybe) crazy idea, but it wouldn't get out of her head. Who in the world would go with their dog to a school dance? Well, definitely, she would. It wasn't like she hadn't been called freak or weirdo many other times before, so she didn't really care about what people would say. She was a bit afraid and anxious about what _Stitch_ would say.

Right now she was watching TV. There was no sign of Stitch yet around the house, but she wasn't too much worried. In fact, she felt as if she needed to be alone for a while to think some things over with more tranquility. Her parents weren't home either. She had found a note stuck on the fridge; she had recognized her mom's writing, telling her that they had gone shopping with Pleakley and that there were veggies and meat in the fridge. Lilo had chuckled to herself, remembering that shopping wasn't one of the favorite activities of her dad. She could almost imagine her mom dragging her dad out of the house, telling him that he was so childish at times… and she had to admit, he WAS childish at times.

The door opened and Lilo turned her head to see who it would be. Two black ebony eyes stared back at her and a blue paw waved at her, and Lilo smiled, returning the gesture. She looked quickly at the clock of the kitchen. It was almost six o'clock. She turned her head to Stitch again and then spoke.

-You're lucky that Nani isn't home yet. She'd be already asking you lots of questions about where you went to and why you delayed so much. —she said, pretending to be Nani and putting on the same frown she had to ask those questions, though there was a smile on her face.

-Stitch playing in tree house. Fell asleep… and woke up five minutes ago. —Stitch responded. Lilo thought it was pretty weird for Stitch to fall asleep for so long, but she didn't question him anymore. Stitch went over her and sat down on the couch as well, watching the show she was watching.

He wasn't actually sleeping on the tree house. True was that he had gone out for some reason he didn't quite remember right now and when he had wanted to go back home, well… he couldn't remember how to get back. He had got lost and walked aimlessly around the forest, trying hard to remember, but it wouldn't work. Finally, he tried to smell something familiar, which brought him to several other places before getting home. He hadn't wanted to tell Lilo because it would be kind of stupid and besides, he didn't want to make Lilo worry about him. Maybe it was just that he was tired or something else, he had concluded.

-Hey Stitch. —Lilo spoke again.

-Ih?

-Today I made a bet with Chris —Lilo started. The words were going out of her mouth almost automatically; she didn't even know what the point of this was going to be. —He bet me a free lunch for a whole month at school IF I go to the dance and I don't like it…

Stitch was starting to wonder what the point of this was. Lilo normally would just tell him what was going on, so this stuttering and hesitation made him slightly suspicious.

-So?

-I accepted… and… and I've… well, I've got to get somebody to go with, and… well, I was just wondering… if, well, if you… would like to… go with me? Don't worry, it's a not-a-date thing —Lilo immediately said when she noticed Stitch's eyebrows lifting in surprise. — We're going only like friends…

-But… shouldn't… human boy take Lilo to the dance? —Stitch asked, pretty confused. It wasn't normal for a girl to go with their dog to a school dance, and even though he didn't know that much about school and stuff, he did know that he was supposed to be Lilo's dog and that it wasn't just normal… though he didn't dislike the idea.

There was a knock on the door and Lilo went over to get it. After a couple seconds, her parents, Nani (who had found them in her way home) and Pleakley were walking in with several bags and stuff.

-Well, guess what, guys? We're having a family night right now. —Kale said as he put down his load of bags and then smiled at them. —Isn't that just great?

* * *

**Please, R&R!**

Two chapters left before things go real bad for Stitch! ... that is, if I don't get too over-creative xD LOL, just kiddin'. I don't want to make you all tired of reading :P

YAY! 48 reviews, so far! xD Though I noticed 'Bring Back My Angel' has ten more... and it's just a four chapter story!

...random observation. Aloha!


	14. Family night

I'm baaaaaack for last time in this year! XD Yes, it is 2008 here in Mexico (still). Happy New Year too all of you, fellas! I hope you enjoy this chapter and the one I updated for "If They Come Back To You"!

**GodOfStorms: **Thanks a lot and I'm glad to know you liked last chapter! It's nice to hear (erm, read) too that I havent lost my touch. LOL, well, here's chapter 14 (YES, DELAYED, but it's finally here!)

**Ted: **Thanks! Glad you like it so far!

**mpkio2: **Hahah, glad to know you liked that scene with Nosy and the balloons! ;P And I guess Lilo's parents will get to understand some Turian... at some point, LOL. Thanks a lot!

**VoxAdam: **Wow, you sure love long reviews, right? XD I do too, LOL. And yeah, I guess I'm going to start replying to all reviewers. It's nice to interact with them that way.

I loved reading your whole review. You know, they always get me to think about certain aspects I sometimes skip (for example, what do experiments do in their spare time).Aha! I see someone else who liked the part where Stitch uses balloons to get Nosy to go away, and I really appreciate that you noticed the one part with Kale fainting after knowing the price he had to pay. LOL, well... and yeah, now that you mention the L/S marriage, that scene in the movie would result bizarre if we look at it with that point of view.

And you'll just see what happens in this family night XD.

**ChristianDragon:** Thanks a lot! And yeah, Stitch MIGHT go bad at the dance :P

**werebunny131: **Thanks a lot! Glad you like it! :)

**123quaz: **Thank you a lot, boy! I really appreciate your reviews, and I'm going to miss them in this place, but oh well. Thank goodness we have DA ^^ Now back to the review reply. I think Lilo's being obedient to her parents because, well, she had missed them a lot and she really appreciates that they're back with her.

That's the point. What happens when Stitch starts to forget stuff related directly to Lilo? But that question will not be answered until we get to the next chapters XD

Anyhoo... enjoy!

* * *

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 14_

_Family night_

-Aww, but I want that movie!

-Naga! It boring!

-Of course it's not, you little monster! Now hand it over!

-Naga!

-Hand it over!

-Naga!

-HAND IT OVER!

-… okay.

-Thank you. HEY-!

Kale observed amused as Pleakley and Stitch quarreled over which movie they wanted to see. He didn't mind their shouts. Actually, it was way better than watching any movie. After all, you don't always get to see two aliens fighting in your living room over a romance movie or an action movie.

-Hey guys, will you please calm down! —Nani's voice came from the kitchen. —We want this to be a very special family night!

-And trust me it is, honey! —Kale replied from the couch, watching as Stitch climbed up the walls and made Pleakley whine in protest at the fact that he still had the movie he wanted to watch. Stitch laughed at Pleakley's poor attempts to get back his movie; he wasn't about to hand that movie over. And you surely would understand why. Does the title "Swept away" as for a romance movie sound interesting to you? At least to Stitch, it didn't.

Nani huffed angrily as she watched the two aliens quarrel. —Oh great. Their only, tiny job was to pick some movie to watch while we got the snacks ready. I can't believe they can't get done with something as easy as that.

-Sorry Nani, but that's something you've gotta learn when you lead the whole house. —Lani said with a knowing smile. —Now watch carefully and learn. Stitch, would you like to come help us in the kitchen?

-But mom…!

-I said watch and learn. What do you think about that, Stitch?

Nani was about to protest again, but Lilo grabbed her by the hand.

-Don't. Mom said watch and learn, right? Well, then she'll have to watch and learn…

A smile had formed on Lilo's face, knowing too well that having Stitch around the kitchen wasn't the brightest idea. For one thing, Stitch adored food and would completely wipe out as much food as he could while nobody was watching. And then there was this huge problem with his clumsiness with delicate things (glasses, cups, plates and such), and then his short patience when things don't go his way.

Well, why should that be a problem, you'd ask? Being in the kitchen, as everybody should know, takes a lot of patience, which was one of Stitch's weaknesses. And as a final, minor detail, Stitch was very, VERY easily distracted from the tasks he's assigned. We could say that trouble was always after him.

Nani had this beautiful list of "qualities" on mind when she had tried to stop her mom, but it seemed to her that Lilo didn't quite understand the measure of it. She looked at Lilo in disbelief before finally speaking up in a whisper.

-But Lilo, you lolo! You know perfectly fine that having Stitch here means disaster!

-Well, would you prefer to have the kitchen in a complete mess if Stitch came here or maybe you'd like for a snack some uneatable stuff that Pleakley invented while nobody was watching? I can tell that cleaning up the kitchen is easier and cheaper than cleaning up the stomachs of the whole family!

Nani couldn't get back at this one. She could only look at her sister for a couple seconds before shooting a glare at her. —You're evil.

-No, I'm just smarter than you. —Lilo replied with a sly grin. Nani just glared; Lilo stuck out her tongue, and Nani did the same in response.

Stitch's ears had perked as soon as he heard the word kitchen.

"_Hmm…yummy food."_

His stomach made his legs move towards the kitchen, where a smiling Lani handed him an apron.

-Thanks a lot Stitch. Now go help Lilo with the tacos please.

Oh, she had just made one big mistake…

Stitch moved next to Lilo, where she was preparing some delicious food, as his nose could tell him. And he proved himself to be right. Yummy, steamy, juicy meat... warm, fluffy tortillas… sauce and other taco dressings that sat right on the table. Stitch's stomach started to growl louder. Ooh, watch out, tacos! Stitch is here!

-I know that look. —He heard a voice interrupting his thoughts and stomach. He turned to find that Lilo was looking right at him with a scolding, yet understanding look. He gave a nervous laugh and a sheepish look at the girl.

-Heh… Stitch help Lilo?

-Why, yes please. —Lilo replied, biting the inside of her cheeks to avoid the smile from growing wider. —Would you be so kind as to help me, handsome gentleman?

Stitch knew that tone on her voice. She was teasing him. Giving her a smirk of his own, he proceeded to get his hands clean first. After getting all four hands as clean as possible and drying them with a towel, he moved next to Lilo once more.

Both kept preparing the food in relative silence for a few moments, Lilo accommodating some meat on the tortillas and then rolling them up, while Stitch was the one who applied the sauce and taco dressings. After several tortillas and pounds of meat, Lilo sighed and stopped for a moment.

-Well, we're almost done. How many tacos do we have ready, Stitch?

-Uhh… three.

Lilo snapped her head towards Stitch, who just smiled innocently and waved at her slowly. Lilo looked a bit more carefully at him: there was some sauce remaining around his mouth. And unfortunately, Stitch hadn't counted the tacos well. There were only two tacos and a bit of a third one. Lilo pretended to look at him in dismay.

-Stitch! But those were supposed to be for the family night!

-What's going on? —Lani approached the pair. She didn't need a reply to know, though. Groaning, she turned around and looked at the ceiling, speaking in a low voice.

-Goodness, now I know what it felt like for you when I let the dog eat our dinner, mom.

And to think that I swore I'd never get mad if ours did the same!

-I'll get the pizzas. —Nani said before sighing, walking to the telephone and typing down the so-well-known number. After a few seconds, she was done and back in the kitchen.

-So, the pizzas are already coming? —Lilo asked naturally. Nani nodded. Lowering her eyes, Lani stared at her girls for a while.

-You do it as if it was so normal already…

-Well, Stitch's stomach gets in our dinner's way more often than you'd believe, mom. We're already used to it. —Nani explained. —Frenchfry's going to be here any moment with out pizzas.

-Oh… oki-taka! —Stitch exclaimed, and then threw into his mouth the other two tacos. Lilo caught the other bit in the air before it fell into Stitch's mouth and then she brought it to her mouth.

-Hmmm… well, it was pretty good. —She said, tasting the bit of the taco. Lani sighed in frustration.

-Oh well, I guess you know what you're doing.

-Lani! Are the snacks ready yet? —Kale's voice came from the living room. Lani rolled her eyes.

-In a moment, dear!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Well, I remember very clearly buying taco ingredients… not pizza. —Kale pointed out after a while. Frenchfry was in the doorstep, only waiting for the money of the pizza. He had wanted to give the pizzas for free, but Lilo wouldn't accept it, so he had no more option than wait there. It was no problem, anyway. The other food-making experiments (there couldn't be only one, right?) would be taking care of the business while he was back.

Taking a few bills out of her pocket, Lilo handed them to Stitch. —Hey, mind it if I ask you to give these to Frenchfry?

-Naga. —Stitch replied, taking the green bills and then walking over to the door. —Ow… my head…

Another wave of pain came across his head, but as soon as it had come, it was gone. He shrugged it off and just rubbed his head. He completed his way to the doorstep, bills in hand, when he stopped suddenly, as if somebody had frozen him. Then he gasped.

-Cousin!

-Huh? —Frenchfry mumbled startled, but all he could see was Stitch lunging at him, the bills forgotten on the carpet. He could only yelp.

They rolled down the stairs, hitting hard against the wood. Lilo rushed to the door, seeing only a blue and gray blur descending quickly the stairs and then landing out on a fern.

-Stitch! —she called out to the fern.

The plant shook for a few seconds more before Stitch emerged out of it. —Lilo! Isaka cousin!

-I know! But why did you charge at him like that?

-Cousin escape! Stitch catch him!

-But he wasn't going to escape! I told him to wait so I could give him the money!

-Huh?

-The pizzas, remember? We're gonna pay him for them. That's his job.

-So… we already catch cousin?

This got Lilo shook up. She looked at Stitch with a confused look, but then glared at him, thinking he was teasing her.

-Stitch, it's not funny. Just let him go and stop playing around.

-_Merci. _—Frenchfry said, feeling his arms being liberated from Stitch's grip and then dusting off. Lilo trotted down the stairs and gave him the bills.

-I'm sorry, Frenchfry. I guess the hot sauce from the tacos got Stitch all shook up. And thanks for the pizzas.

-No problem. —Frenchfry waved off with a little of a French accent. He turned into a little twister and went away, leaving Lilo and Stitch alone again. Well, almost alone, if you didn't count the ones who were watching from the house, and over all, the rain of questions when they were inside again.

-Does he always do that? —Lani asked severely. Stitch chuckled nervously and then hid behind Lilo.

-Well, he's a little mischievous, but not like this… —Lilo answered.

-So, that's another of Stitch's cousins, right?

-Yep.

-Ugh, poor Frenchfry. I hope that didn't hurt too much…

-Can we watch "Grease"?

Everybody turned to Pleakley, who held a hopeful expression on his face. Everybody stared at him in an odd way. —What?

-Hmmm… what do you think about the last one of Indiana Jones? I never thought they'd release another one after the other four. —Kale suggested. Everyone agreed, since Kale was a big fan of Indiana Jones and the others liked those movies, except for Pleakley, who complained about the fact that nobody ever listened to his requests. And actually, nobody listened to his quells.

All the adults had the sofa for themselves, while Lilo and Stitch occupied their normal places down on the carpet, a few inches away from each other. Right before the movie started, Lilo felt something furry on her arm. She turned her head to see that it was Stitch, tapping on her arm to get her attention.

-What is it, Stitch?

-Stitch… sorry. Stitch don't know… what happened. —Stitch whispered.

Lilo gave him a warm smile. —Don't worry. I guess we all should be used to this kind of things already, being you.

-And Stitch… accept.

-What?

-Stitch accept… Stitch go to dance with Lilo.

Lilo couldn't help getting a warm sensation growing in her stomach. —Oh, r-really?

-Yah… Stitch must protect Lilo from stupid-head boys. Too many at school now. —Stitch made a grimace. Lilo smiled and gave a giggle.

-So, I guess I should thank you for that.

She had thought on giving him a kiss on his nose, but seeing that her mom and dad were right behind them she opted on just patting his head. Even though it was an innocent move, her mom stared at them, as she could see from the corner of her eye. That made her uncomfortable. She didn't really know, but she was starting to think that maybe her mom was starting to suspect.

"_Darn, why moms have to know almost everything? It'd be easier if they only knew the necessary. Or maybe I'm just going paranoid."_ But soon, she could see the reason of her mom's stare. She was holding hands with Stitch and she hadn't even noticed: it was something she was already too used to as to even notice.

Quickly, she let go. Stitch gave her a questioning look, but soon he discovered his "mommy-in-law" behind them. He followed Lilo's game as well. He wasn't sure he wanted Lilo's parents to know of this yet, and much less seeing the way Lani had looked at them. He wondered if the woman would stare the same way at a human boy, but that didn't help a lot, but made him feel even worse. Ugh…

The rest of the movie went relatively smoothly, except for Stitch dropping the popcorn bowl in the part when several scorpions crawled on Indy's son and Pleakley screaming at the "ugh,-that's-so-horribly-gross!" parts.

Even though the movie was pretty interesting for almost everybody, some started to feel their eyelids grow heavy. First, Lani had started to wink a few times and then fell asleep; then Nani's snores started to sound through the room.

The only ones who remained awake by the ending of the movie were Kale, Pleakley (who couldn't stop screaming for the rest of the movie), Lilo and Stitch. The room was left into an almost complete darkness and then everybody stood up, Nani and Lani being pretty groggy.

-Goodnight to everybody. —Lani yawned.

-Yeah. Same for me. —Nani stirred up a bit and then walked into the corridor.

-Ugh, I hope I'll be able to sleep tonight. —Pleakley complained. Suddenly, he felt something furry on his feet. Screaming that a monster had got him, he dashed off to his room, closing the door loudly.

-Stitch, you bad, bad boy. —Lilo said with a smile on her face. Stitch responded with one of his own, but at Lani's apparently severe look he lowered his ears and started walking to the lift.

-Uh… g' night, Mrs. And Mr. Pelekai! —He said simply, waving at them.

-Good night —both parents replied. Lilo kissed her mom and dad goodnight and then followed Stitch into the lift, then both disappeared into the little tunnel that would bring them into their dome. Kale sighed.

-Lani…

-Wassup, honey?

-Haven't you noticed something going on between Lilo and Stitch?

Lani started to walk up to their room (Nani's former room. Now she slept in Jumba's empty bed). Both entered the place and then Kale sat down on the bed.

-Well, yeah. They're pretty close friends. Lilo had already told us, so why does it surprise you so much? —She said with a casual tone. Kale caught up that tone.

-You have noticed too, right? First, that lil' fellow at the beach last week telling us that they were about to do… something I don't know, and then tonight during the family fun night. Don't you think that means something?

Yes, Kale had noticed something tonight, but he was a bit more discrete than Lani, so Lilo and Stitch hadn't quite noticed him.

Sliding his feet out of their sandals, Lani gave a deep breath. —Kale, we were young once, too. I perfectly know the looks that Stitch directs to Lilo, and I guess you know the ones that she gives back.

-So, that means they…? —Kale trailed off. However, his wife understood what his silence meant, and she nodded.

-I think they are.

Kale slid into the covers beside his wife. —Look, I like Stitch and all, but don't you think it's a bit… weird? They're all different!

Lani turned to him. —Well, yes, I'll admit it's kind of weird.

-And so?

-And so? Well, if he truly loves her, then that's all what matters to me.

-And that's all? But Lani, don't you see…?

-Yes, Kale, I can see. I can see what's going on.

-But…!

-Kale, look, your problem is not that Stitch is an alien. Your problem with this is that he's looking at Lilo as something more than just his friend. It wouldn't matter if it were a normal boy; you'd look at him with those same eyes!

Kale rubbed his temples, musing over his wife's words. Lani went on:

-And I know why. Lilo's always been your baby, and you don't like to see that your baby's now grown up and soon going to be with someone else. I don't know if it'll be Stitch, but if that's the case…

-Well, yeah… so you think I'm jealous?

-No. I think it's hard for you to let go, that's all. —Lani said, planting a loving kiss on her husband's cheek. —Just calm down. Give Stitch his chance with our daughter and then we'll see.

-I thought you didn't like him at all.

-It's not that. It's just that he's a bit mischievous, that's all, but what boy isn't?

Kale grumbled a little. —Okay, okay. But no more than just a kiss on the cheek and that's all for them.

-Kale! —Lani giggled, smacking him playfully on his arm. —I remember my dad used to say the same about us. But remember: we didn't just stay in kisses to have our kids.

The raven haired man stifled back a laugh. —I know… but it's not the right moment for them.

-And what'd you say for us?

-That's different case. —He said, moving closer to Lani and holding her close to him.

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**Please R&R!**


	15. Earrings and mints

Woot! Chapter 15's already up! I'm so happy now! ^^ Fortunately for me (and most of you xD ), now that we got our precious Spring Break from school I'm going to write some more and update the two stories I'm currently writing. Aren't you all happy too? :P

Ok, sorry for all of those who already read this chapter without my greetings! I wanted to update SO badly before having to leave for my grandma's house that I forgot I'd need some extra time to reply to some reviews T.T So I updated, LOL. Well, on with the replies!

**mpkio2:** Happy new year to you too! (Wow, that just made me realize for how long I left this story hanging _ ) Unfortunately, this year it was a bit more boring than past years XD but it was still good enough.

Hahah, yeah, you kind of sounded like a dad (or better said, like my mum xD ) but it's alright. I'm not that often around here anymore, now am I?

Yep! Stitch's memory is being wiped out little by little... sometimes. There's going to be this last time... ACK, I ALREADY SAID TOO MUCH!! XD I 'm uh-vil 8D

Thanks a lot for the nice review, and there you go with this next chapter! ;P

**Stitchfan 82: **Thanks! Here you go! ^^

**ChristianDragon: **My gosh, aren't you a smart boy... or girl? Idk, your profile doesn't say much, but I guess you're a girl *shrug* Anyway, yeah, you got it right. Stitch accepts going to the dance with Lilo and yeah, there MUST be some kind of havock at the dance (being Stitch, how couldn't that happen?) LOL. But I'm not spoiling it! I'm only going to tell you that you got must of your suspicious right ^^

Thanks for the review and keep reading and reviewing!

**GodOfStorms:** Well, I'm taking advantage that you already reviewed, so I'll reply right now. Yes, life's been good (mostly) except for a few family problems and stuff, but at least the sun is still shining and school's over for me for two whole weeks! ^^ Hope you'll get a break soon :)

Wow, now I feel flattered xD but I still feel I could have done better with the dream sequence *shrug* Anyway, I guess I'm going to leave it the way it is. Nobody's told me (yet) 'OMG I hate that scene!! DX ' LOL. And yeah, for how long could they keep their blossoming romance from Mr. and Mrs. Pelekai? They were young once, too xD

Thank you for another great review and wish you and all the other readers the best!

* * *

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 15_

_Earrings and mints can say many things_

_The darkness was complete. Not even his night vision helped him to at least figure out where he was. It was terribly cold as well; not even his fur would help to get him somewhat warm, and his head hurt. However, there was something that had him more worried…_

"_Lilo?" He called out, worrying over the fact that he didn't know where the girl was. But he had no response. He called her name various other times, but it was fruitless. He had a very bad feeling that something had happened to her, and that there wasn't much he could do about it._

_His head had started aching more. The pain grew more intense by second. It reminded him of the pain he used to get when he had his glitch, because it was almost like that same horrible pinch he felt back then. However, this felt different at the same time. Not only his head ached, but he felt confused, more than usual, and he felt like he was losing grip of something… like…it felt just like when you forget something really important. _

_A blinding flash came out of nowhere, and then his head stopped aching. He had to close his eyes for a few seconds so the light wouldn't hurt them. Slowly, he stood up and opened his eyes. He noticed he was in some kind of room that looked like the dome, except it had white walls and no lift, doors or windows to be seen. However, it was dark where he was. It didn't matter how many times he tried to get out of his dark corner, it was as if darkness followed him everywhere he went. He was starting to get scared._

_A whimper sounded throughout the silent room, being caught by his ears. He turned around to the source of the whimper and saw a person in ragged clothes. He had only to smell the air to know that it was his Lilo. He was confused as to why she'd look so miserable, not only because of her clothes. She couldn't stop crying and weeping, and it got him worried._

"_Lilo, gaba tasoopa?" __He asked worried. Lilo lifted her face and then he could see the hideous scratches she had spread all over her face. Then he noticed the wounds on her arms as well and the blood spots on her clothes, the ones he had mistaken at first for dirt. He felt his blood starting to boil, and then a growl came out of his throat. Who had dared to even touch Lilo, not to say hurt? Whoever had done it, it was better for him not to be near there, because Stitch would have surely given him what he deserved._

_However, something stopped Stitch's anger from growing bigger, and instead made him feel insecure, scared. It was the look that Lilo was giving him. Could it be possible? That look on her chocolate eyes… was it… fear?_

_He turned around, wishing to find someone or something else that Lilo could be looking at this way, but there was only darkness surrounding him. He wanted to believe that the darkness was what had her scared, but there was something inside him that told him it wasn't the case. He tried going near Lilo, but she scooted away from him. He felt a knot forming on his throat._

"_Lilo? Why you scared?"_

"_Stitch… how could you? Why…?" Lilo asked in a whisper, her hands covering her face as if signaling the wounds on it. Stitch felt the knot growing bigger on his throat. Could it be possible that he did __this__ to her?_

"_No…" He thought scared. "It can't be… I promised I'd never let anyone hurt her, and that I'd always be with her. I cannot possibly have done that to her…" However, a voice inside his head told him otherwise, just like the girl in front of him. He tried once more approaching Lilo. She couldn't scoot any further from him, but she didn't melt in his arms like she used to. She simply remained frozen, while Stitch tried to get her to fall into his embrace, wanting to know that everything was alright._

"_Lilo… please, no be scared. No of Stitch…" He practically begged her, but she was frozen. A few tears had started leaking out of his eyes and fell right on Lilo's tan arm. Her eyes widened just for a second, as if she were surprised of his tears. To her, it just didn't make sense that the monster that had done this to her a few moments earlier were all of sudden holding her with such carefulness and affect. She pushed him away abruptly and hugged her knees to her chest again, her hair falling onto her face and hiding it from Stitch._

_Stitch didn't give up on comforting Lilo, though. He tried once more to hold her, but he couldn't, and this time, it wasn't because Lilo pushed him away. His arms simply went through Lilo everytime he tried to hold her, like water would pass by a piece of fabric._

"_Lilo!" He tried calling her, but she didn't lift her face again. He didn't know if either she was just ignoring her or she really couldn't hear him. Anyway, it was frustrating…_

_He could have dropped onto the floor that very moment, but a noise caught his attention. It was some kind of growl coming from the darkness he had been on a few seconds ago. Huge, hideous green eyes and white razor teeth shone in the pitch black. It all seemed too familiar to him all of sudden… like those dreams he had had of himself going bad again when he was just a pup. Or maybe it was __one__ of those dreams…_

"_Gaba choo-ah wakkie Lilo!" __What do you want with Lilo! He barked at the dark figure. However, his only response was another growl from the monster. He readied himself for a fight, in case he needed to; his extra set of arms, his spines and his antennas were already out in a matter of seconds._

"_Stitch, please don't!" He heard behind of him. She finally saw him! Stitch turned around, wanting to run to Lilo and see if he could hold her now, but he was disheartened when he found that she wasn't looking at him. Instead, her eyes were fixed on the dark figure of hideous eyes. How had she called it…?_

_He let out a small gasp. That __thing__ couldn't possibly be him, right? "Please Lilo, tell me that's not me…" he begged in his mind. However, now that he noticed, the growls that came from the monster sounded somewhat like him… maybe a bit TOO much…_

"_Naga! Isa naga Stitch!" He cried desperate, lunging himself at the dark figure. However, he went through the monster, just like he had with Lilo a few moments before. Stitch lifted up quickly and tried to claw at the monster, but it was to no avail; the monster kept walking with all the tranquility in the world. Stitch tried once more lunging at him with the same results than earlier, but this time, when he lifted his face, the monster was nowhere to be seen. The only thing Stitch could see in that moment was Lilo lying unconscious on the floor._

_He cried her name out and ran to her side as quick as he could. He took her into his arms; she didn't seem to be breathing. He shook her various times, saying her name as he did this, but she didn't open her eyes. He held her close, feeling the knot on his throat getting unmade to finally let out a few tears; his fur was staining with the blood of Lilo's wounds, much more blood than he had expected to see._

_He heard the growls again. Turning his head slightly to his right side, he saw the monster finally coming out of the darkness. It had his exact shape: the antennas, the four arms, the spines… everything he had was present in this monster. He could even have thought that someone had just put a mirror in front of him if it wasn't for the eyes…those horrible, greedy eyes. It made him feel shivers running down his spine. It reminded him way too much of his nightmares right before his glitch._

_He didn't even have time to stand up; at the next half of second, the monster was already on him, or at least Stitch thought so by the way he felt his whole body being bit and hurt. The worst of all was that he couldn't defend himself at all; everytime he tried to bit or hit back, it was like he had just attacked the air. It felt like if the monster were eating him._

_The pain grew more, and more, and more…_

Thud!

"Oooww…" Stitch moaned, rubbing his back and buttocks to make the pain in them dissipate. He threw away the blanket covering his head and body and then tried to figure out where he was. For a moment, he thought he still was in his nightmare, but slowly he realized it wasn't so. Though it was dark, there was some moonlight coming through the windows, two things that weren't present in his nightmare.

"Uhh… Stitch?" He heard Lilo's sleepy voice. "What are you doing up so early? Sun's not even out yet."

"No worry! Stitch okay. Cute and fluffy!" Stitch replied in a puppyish manner. This earned him a smile from Lilo.

"Yeah, like if you weren't all the time. Can you sleep at all?"

"Ih! Stitch, uh… just thirsty. Got coffee." Stitch said, trying to sound as tranquil as he could. For a second, he didn't think it would be a good idea to worry Lilo with his nightmare; after all, what if it only was that, a nightmare?

Lilo didn't buy his excuse at all. "How come you don't smell like coffee? For the number of cups you get in one night, you should at least smell a little like coffee… and the only thing I can smell from you is dinner from last night. Are you sure you're okay?"

Stitch dropped his ears. "Ih… well, Stitch had nightmare. Not very bad, but still…"

"Was it bad enough to scare you?"

"…Ih."

Lilo sat up on her bed. "Feel like talking about it?"

A few moments later, Stitch was pouring all what he had dreamed on Lilo, who listened carefully at her best friend. She seemed to be slightly scared by the time Stitch was done with his nightmare.

"Remember last time you had a dream like this one?" She asked. Stitch nodded. "What if something bad happens again, like that last time?"

"Naga nota… Lilo scared?"

"Uh, well… kind of."

"Oh… then… maybe Stitch shouldn't have..."

"No! No, no, it's alright." Lilo interrupted Stitch, catching on what he meant. "I know, this isn't exactly comforting, but the simple fact that you trust me to tell me what you dreamed about is good for me."

"Gaba?"

"What I mean is that it feels good that you trust me."

"Oh. Well, Lilo mockcheeka achie-baba! Best!"

Lilo smiled. "I know. You know you're my best friend too. It's just that even though we're best friends, there are still a few things that we keep from each other at times, if only for a while until the other finds out what it was about."

Stitch chuckled, remembering an incident with a Christmas dinner a few years ago. "Hahah, yeah. Stitch knows."

"Well, uhm…" Lilo yawned. "I'm getting sleepy again. What do you think if we go to bed right now and see what to do tomorrow? Maybe it isn't that bad at all and it was just a nightmare, after all."

"Ih… just nightmare. G' night Lilo." Stitch whispered as he got into his blankets.

"Yeah… goodnight, Stitch. We've got to get some rest for tomorrow, remember?"

Stitch struggled a bit to remember… Lilo laughed.

"Aren't you sleepy too? Tomorrow's the dance. Now you can remember?"

"Oh! Ih! Meega dooka!" Now Stitch seemed to be all excited about this. It made Lilo feel funny. Yeah, she had noticed that somewhat, something had been going on between her and Stitch, and she definitely had noticed that Stitch was acting kind of different with her… in a way that she liked it. However, she still wasn't sure about a few things… what if she was imagining it all, just because she liked Stitch?

"Well, anyway… goodnight." She repeated, trying to push away the thoughts before they went on for longer. She quickly turned on her side and sighed, not being quite sure why.

Stitch smiled, somewhat confused. He couldn't believe at all he had forgotten that dance with Lilo; after this whole week, he had been looking forward to it. After a few minutes, he could hear Lilo's steady breathing, indicating him that she was already asleep.

"Goodnight, Lilo…" He repeated, closing his eyes. He fell asleep shortly after.

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"Why don't you just look for them in your bedroom again? Maybe…"

"I already did twice!" Lilo replied worried. Lani rolled her eyes.

"Well, then just wear another pair of earrings."

"No! I had these ready for today! I can't just lose them and leave it alone. Besides, Pleakley likes those earrings way TOO much. I bet he took them again." Lilo responded, looking for her precious earrings in Pleakley's shiny jewelry box. She became more frustrated when she didn't find them. Lani found it kind of funny.

"So… why is it so important to you?" She asked in a casual tone. Lilo would have noticed that it was too casual if it hadn't been for her frustration.

"Because Stitch has always loved those earrings! It'd be a nice touch if I wore them at the dance." She replied, not knowing that she had already said too much. Her mom smiled sweetly.

"And why does he like them?"

"I don't really know. I guess it's because they're shiny, and he's always liked shiny things since we were kids." The tan Hawaiian girl sat down on Pleakley's bed, letting out a frustration sigh. Lani left her spot at the entrance and sat down next to her daughter as well.

"Oh, I see. Well, maybe I can help you with that…" She stood up and gave Lilo a soft pat on her forearm, encouraging her to follow her. They walked out of Jumba and Pleakley's room and then into the short corridor to finally go into another room. Several photos and little things from the past of Lilo's parents adorned every wall and corner in the room, which told Lilo that they were in her parents' room. Lani went directly to a big wooden closet and took out of it a little golden box.

"It's quite good that Nani left so many things the way they used to be." She commented, walking over to Lilo and opening the box in front of her. She got her delicate hands into the box, removing and moving several little jewels with her large fingers. "Hmmm… here they are."

Lilo let out a small gasp of surprise when her mom took out a pair of beautiful silver earrings with several white, shiny rocks incrusted into their circular frame. She handed them to her daughter.

"I remember these… you wore them the last night I saw you…" Tears started to leak out of Lilo's eyes.

"And I wore them too in the first date your dad and I had… which was precisely at a dance…" Lani continued, taking the earrings from Lilo's hands and putting them on the girl's ears.

"These earrings are very precious to me and your father. They were given to your grandmother by your grandfather right before he went into the war to never return. Later on, Lei'lani Pelekai gave these same earrings to your father so he would give them to me, knowing that we would end up together someday.

She struggled to hold back a giggle. "Maybe I should have given them to Nani, but seeing that she and David are already engaged, it isn't the same: predicting who's going to end up with who and play matchmaker. It's already obvious." She chuckled and then took out a necklace to put it around Lilo's neck. "So I'm giving them to you."

Lilo couldn't help herself and threw her arms around her mother, now letting her tears roll down her cheeks. "Thank you… this means so much to me…"

"I know, honey, I know." Lani said, caressing Lilo's long black hair. "Now, stand up. I want to see how beautiful you'll look at that dance."

Lilo did as she was told. Lani admired the figure of her little girl, now the full weight of her words downing on her. Indeed, Lilo was no longer a little girl. She could see that now.

"Well, of course I won't go to that dance like this…" Lilo tried to joke, grabbing a hold of the fabric of her shorts and T-shirt. However, her mom didn't seem to notice.

"My God… who'd say that my baby would become such a beautiful woman?" She commented, tears starting to form in her eyes as well. "And tell me, do you already know which dress you're going to wear?"

"Well, Nani told me I could borrow one from her closet, since I don't really like any of the ones I have… but I don't really like any of the ones she has either." Lilo admitted. Lani arched her eyebrows.

"Don't worry. I think I got that figured out as well."

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"So, according to this magazine, humans really like it when their mate brings something that they consider very worthy into a courting ritual, because that makes them feel that you're sharing a part of their lives with you and therefore, that makes them feel trusted on and the bond grows deeper." Pleakley concluded, closing his magazine and putting it on a table as a biology teacher would do with his "Origin of the species" book. Stitch could only give him a confused look.

"What?" He asked with that same puzzled look plastered onto his face. Pleakley didn't seem to be impatient with his student; instead, he was very eager to teach him all he knew about "courting rituals".

"That means you have to bring something that is really important to you for the date to make it reeeeeeeal romantic." Pleakley started, but Stitch soon made a grimace.

"Naga! Isa naga date! It not-a-date thing." He tried to explain, but Pleakley eyed him with suspicion.

"Okay… well, then HOW WOULD YOU CALL IT!?" He asked, all of sudden becoming exalted. Stitch winced slightly.

"Uh… not-a-date… thing?" He replied again. This time, Pleakley slapped himself on the forehead.

"My gosh, you really should watch some more romance movies or soap operas instead of gross-movies! Well, even if it's a NOT-a-date thing, you still have to bring something that is very worthy to you! Like, uhm… a nice tuxedo would do, or maybe a tie, or maybe…"

"Ugh, naga!" Stitch exclaimed disgusted. "No formal clothes! Stitch no like!"

"Well, it is a dance, my dear little monster, so you have to wear formal clothing! If not, what in the world are you going to wear! You can't just go around there all naked!"

"Gaba eeki choo?" Stitch asked hopefully.

"No, fur doesn't count." Pleakley replied annoyed. "Now, if you don't want to wear a tuxedo, then what do you want? It wouldn't be fair that Lilo goes all dressed up like a princess and you just don't do any effort to look well for her!"

Stitch groaned. He hadn't thought of it that way, and it made him feel kind of… guilty. His ears lowered to his back, but then he had an idea. He ran to his and Lilo's closet and took out a book with pictures of the King. He showed a page of it to Pleakley eagerly.

"Nope, that is just too much… rock and roll. But this one…" He said, signaling the next picture and tapping it with his skinny finger. "This one is just perfect. It's all romance, rebel, cool… it's just perfect!"

Stitch gave a look to it. It wasn't bad at all… in fact, he kind of liked it too. And since Lilo had always been an Elvis' fan, it would be perfect! Pleakley took out with him the book so he could start working on the outfit. He mused about what Pleakley had told him earlier about the "worthy thing".

He scratched his chin thoughtfully and then walked over to his cot. He lifted the pillow, expecting to find his "worthy something", but he didn't find it there. Frustrated, he started tossing around random stuff, and then it appeared in between his blankets. Giving a sigh of relief, he picked it up and put it around his neck.

However, that didn't feel like it was enough. Of course, Pleakley was already helping him with advices and the outfit, but he felt there was something he should do as well. He thought for some moments more and then had an idea. He ran downstairs and then to the bathroom, grabbed a new toothbrush and washed his mouth a hundred of times. However, it still felt like it wasn't enough. Suddenly, a random flashback came to his mind: Kale was a big fan of mints, and he used to keep them in a little cup in the kitchen.

He looked for the little red cup everywhere in the kitchen, but it was nowhere to be seen. He moved every dish in the kitchen just to find it, but it was to no use.

"Hey Stitch!" He heard a male voice behind him. "Looking for something?"

Stitch almost let the plate he was holding crash onto the ground. Almost.

"Uhh… nothing! Stitch only looking for, uh… mint!" Stitch replied to the tall man standing in front of him.

"Well, why didn't you ask for it before? I would have given it to you." Kale replied and then walked over to the living room, Stitch following him closely. He lifted some newspapers from the little table and there was the red cup.

"There you go. Some mints for a minty-fresh breath!" He said, then all of sudden it downed on him. He knew Stitch and his daughter were going to the dance together. "What do you want them for, hmm?"

"Uh… oh! Isa getting late! Bye-bye!" Stitch exclaimed and then dashed back into the lift that would bring him to the dome, of course, having grabbed at least ten mints along before. Kale followed him with his eyes and then rolled them. He still didn't know if he should be growling or just chuckling.

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**Please R&R! **

**Next chapter is going to be the good one! ^^ **


	16. May I have this dance?

Hey everyone! I'm SO back, after not so long! ...or at least not as long as it usually is, LOL. Now that I haven't had school for quite a while (about two weeks once more because of the Swine Flu, for those that don't know that I'm Mexican), I've had some more time to write. Woot!

**ChristianDragon:** Dang! Well, at least now I know you're a boy xD I hope you'll like this chapter!

**Maiyrhia: **Thanks! I feel very flattered when I get to know I have a new reader AND reviewer (for you guys that read my stories but never review, I really appreciate it, but how am I going to know that you read them?). I'm especially happier to know that even though you're NOT a Stitch/Lilo fan, you took the time to read and tell me what you think of this story so far. I've only come across with two or three guys who didn't like Lilo/Stitch either or hadn't even thought of it as a possible couple, but when I received their reviews saying that they absolutely liked what I was doing with my stories, I couldn't be any happier. Thanks for adding happiness to my life! ;P

I've been working on the speech marks as well. I haven't updated the past chapters of this story with those speech marks yet, but now that I'm using them, I hope they'll make it easier for you to know when the characters are talking. Hmm, yeah, Stitch's speech is kind of hard to get, and even more Jumba's. Thanks for noticing :) Glad you like how the story is going, and welcome to Liloexp626's stories!

**VoxAdam: **Nah, making exclamations in Tantalog is fine from time to time (though I prefer to call it Turian, since I don't really know why people call it Tantalog).

Responding to your question regarding to that ficcy I'm planning to do around the "Stitch!" anime, well... actually, I've aimed to do it as an AU story ever since I had the idea for the fic. Why? Well, there are several things about the anime that I do NOT like, and making an AU story out of it would make me feel better by changing a few things, in some way (in case the anime ends up with Yuuna and Stitch together instead of Stitch returning with Lilo.) Of course I want to end it before the franchise gets over, because that would earn some more points in favor for the story for originality maybe, but my aim for it has always been an AU story, though now that I think about it, it might seem more like a "Present" story by the time I start updating it.

Glad to know the dream sequence worked here as well :-) You know, the main reason why I wanted Stitch to have a nightmare as well was the fact that in _L&S 2_, he was the one to have the dream that foretold what would happen later on, and it seemed interesting for me to make Stitch have a nightmare, and then have Lilo have one as well because she'll remember both nightmares when Stitch goes bad. I got a weird way of telling the characters what will happen later on, right?

Whoops! Yeah, I should have started writing the chapters' names on the toolbar since long ago. I didn't because in first place, I didn't think this story would be so long, therefore I didn't think I'd need to put the names there to make easier for the reader to look up for certain chapter. Second place... I'm too lazy xD That's a bad "quality", so I'll fix this little mistake when I get enough time to do so (which should be soon).

I've always liked to set my stories in the real world. It makes them somewhat more credible, I think, and I get to work with things we all know from daily life. Not many seem to notice this while reading my stories, but I blame the same fact that these are things we all know from everyday. Woot! And once more, I'm happy to know I didn't overload that scene with too much sugar -it would have made anyone roll their eyes at how corny it is, LOL. Personally, I don't really know how is it for a mother and a daughter to get the girl ready for a dance. I don't go to dances at my school because, like Lilo used to think before, I think they get quite boring xD Too many girly girls, stupid-head boys bloating for how many dates they got that day... it's really boring when you don't have anyone to talk to or spend time with. However, back to the subject, I'm glad to know the scene with Lani and Lilo worked out well.

Same for the scene with Pleakley and Stitch. I've always thought I suck at comedy, but seeing that this made at least someone smile makes me feel happy. Stitch is not (at all) naked creature, I think. He's got fur, hasn't he? Yep! Agin, the Breath Mint Joke. I already took a liking to that one, LOL xD

Hope you all like this chapter!

* * *

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 16_

_May I have this dance?_

"My gosh, it's 5.30 already! You're late, little monster! Now get out of here and go take your damsel to the dance!"

With that, Pleakley pushed Stitch out of his room. He sighed heavily and walked into the living room, where some chat was heard right before he went in. He noticed that Lani and Nani were in there. Nani seemed kind of tired; she had just arrived from work. Stitch cleared his throat, as if to make them notice he was there.

"Hi Stitch." Nani greeted tiredly, but then smelled the air. "Uh, Stitch… do you smell like aromatizer?"

"Stitch smell bad?" Stitch asked worried, and then started smelling his arms and shirt. Pleakley had had the great idea of using an aromatizer as a lotion for him, and now he was starting to regret he allowed the walking noodle spray him all over his body with that thing.

"No, no, don't worry… it's just that I thought I recognized that aroma, that's all." Nani replied, and then went into the kitchen to prepare something to eat.

"Oh, hey Stitch! Lilo's already waiting for you in the car!" Lani greeted him warmly. Stitch nodded.

"Oki-takka!" He said, starting to walk over to the door, but then stopped slowly, even hesitantly. "Uh… how Stitch look?" He asked awkwardly to the woman. She smiled and patted him on the head.

"You look great." She said as she pointed a finger to Stitch's shirt, which had big white leaves in a red background. The little Tiki-necklace that Lilo had given him so many years ago hung from his neck, and he wore fancy white pants like those that Elvis usually wore. "You know? You kind of remind me of those old movies in which The King appeared here in Hawaii. Lilo's definitely going to love that."

"Thank you." Stitch replied, and then went out of the house.

"So, Stitch's gonna take Lilo to the dance?" Nani asked her mother from the kitchen.

"Yep."

"Oh. So I guess he's gonna scare away from her those stupid head boys she complains so much about." Nani appeared in the doorway, holding a sandwich on her hand. She bit into it as her mother let out one single laugh.

"I think he's doing far more than that."

Meanwhile, Stitch was already downstairs, walking slowly to the buggy. He still didn't know whether he just wanted to keep his clothes clean or if he was nervous about meeting Lilo. It was funny to think how he had always been brave enough to fight so many experiments in the past that could have easily beat him up, but when it came to girls, he would always be too apprehensive.

"_Well, there's no reason to be afraid or nervous, right? Lilo's been my best friend for so long it would be plain stupid if I said I'm afraid…"_ Stitch thought to himself, trying to light up his own mood, but it made him feel even sillier. He groaned and started walking again, realizing that he had stopped for a moment out of nervousness. The buggy was already into his view, and he could see someone already sitting inside. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward with determination.

Lilo was looking at her own face on the little mirror of the car, not knowing if she had done well in not putting any make-up on her. She had never been one of those girls who go everyday to school with their eyes dripping mascara or with such dusty cheeks. She always thought it would be stupid and even laugh at those girls, but now, it didn't seem so stupid. In fact, it even seemed necessary. She was starting to be repentant of not knowing how to put on some mascara, but to begin with, she didn't have any. She looked for a little tube of gloss she had in her little purse, which was the only make-up item she had so far. She applied it onto her lips slowly, afraid of doing it wrong and looking silly afterwards. She was so concentrated in doing it that she didn't hear footsteps nearing the buggy.

"Lilo? What you doing?" She heard a voice. She kept the gloss into her purse in just a second, as if she were ashamed of what she had just been doing.

"Nothing!"

Stitch noticed her glossy lips then and smirked. "Stitch thought Lilo didn't like those."

"Well, as long as I use them for their original purpose instead of using aromatizer as a lotion…" Lilo retorted back with a smirk of her own, having already smelt the aroma coming from Stitch. He frowned.

"Lilo used some blush too?" He said, pointing to her reddened cheeks. Both of them looked at each other defiantly and then just laughed. As long as Stitch thought that blush on her cheeks was make-up, she would be fine. He turned up the ignition and then they started driving through the lonely streets of Kokaua town.

"Uh, nice dress…" Stitch complied Lilo, noticing the beautiful white dress she was wearing; a dress with wide silver straps and a low, yet modest cleavage that would only allow to see only a bit of the top of her chest. A silver belt hung from her waist, remarking her figure, and the cloth of the dress only reached to Lilo's knees.

"Thank you, mister. I like your attire too." Lilo replied flattered, though wanting to hide it by joking. Stitch smiled, knowing that everything was going well so far. At least she had liked his clothes.

About five minutes later, the buggy stopped in front of a big building, holding the title of "Kokaua High School" in big golden letters. It didn't take much for Stitch to find a parking place; after a few minutes, the pair was ready to get off the car. Stitch brought himself down quickly and then went over to Lilo's side. He opened the door for her, remembering how Angel complained so much about how he should be more of a gentleman by doing this. Lilo smiled at him awkwardly and thanked him by patting his head. After that, the two friends went into the building.

Meanwhile, in the Pelekai household, a man tapped his fingers nervously on the wooden arm of the sofa. His eyes were fixed on the TV, but he couldn't bring himself to pay attention to it: all he could think about was his little girl on that dance with her best friend. He had thought about going to Lilo's school just to check if everything was alright, but he had been able to hold himself back. He didn't want to make his daughter feel spied upon, but he felt he needed to be there, observing all that was happening.

Lani returned to the living room, this time with a bowl of popcorn in her hands. She laughed at seeing the concentrated look on her husband's eyes, knowing what he was thinking about.

"Oh Kale, please chill out! It's just a high school dance! It's not like your daughter were about to get married on a casino in Las Vegas!" She joked, plopping down beside of the man. He wrapped one single arm around her waist and sighed.

"Now I know how your father felt when we went out in our first date. I never thought I'd have to worry so much about one of my daughters being at home before eleven." Kale mused thoroughly, trying to remember those old days in which he would have to be careful with bringing Lani home before the hour his father-in-law had settled. Lani laid her head on her hubby's shoulder and cuddled against him.

"Don't worry; Lilo's gonna be fine. It's just a date. What could go so wrong?"

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The dance hadn't even begun. Students were still arriving from their homes, and the ones that were there already were just chatting and drinking punch or soda. Of course, as soon as Lilo and Stitch stepped in, several looks diverted to them, some looking at them with a funny glance and some whispering some inaudible thing; most were smiling in a skeptical way. Lilo couldn't help but blush and feel her heart rushing its beat. What could these teens be saying about Stitch and her? Would they think she just brought her 'dog', or would they think it was an ugly dwarf? Or maybe they had already realized that it was her date?

Her hand fidgeted nervously with her dress, but soon made her way to Stitch's hand. She held it tightly, looking for the comfort she needed so much. She let out her contained breath when she felt Stitch wrapping his fingers around her hand, responding as she had needed it.

"Uhh, Stitch? Don't you feel a little… weird, with everyone looking at us?" She said softly. She heard her shorter friend gulp.

"Ih."

The teens were still looking at them, but soon, the novelty passed away and they were back to their chats. This helped the pair get a bit more comfortable and feel secure enough to look for some drinks. They let go of the other's hand and walked to the drinks table. After pouring the soda in their vases, they looked for some place to sit at.

The tan girl searched everywhere with her eyes and found two teens that were just stepping inside the gym as well: she recognized immediately her red haired friend and her tall, handsome date.

"Chris! Victoria! Over here!" She shouted at them and waved her hand in the air to get their attention. Stitch felt the growl on his throat starting to grow when he saw the handsome boy, but when he noticed the intertwined hands of the teenagers, he felt more tranquil. Maybe he shouldn't worry anymore of Chris wanting to try anything with Lilo.

The friends greeted with a brief hug and a warm smile, and then started chatting, just like every other group on the improvised dance floor.

"So Lilo… where's your date?" Chris asked out of the blue. Lilo gave a nervous smile and looked at Stitch.

"He's right beside me."

Victoria understood quickly and giggled with Lilo, but Chris seemed quite confused. Lilo understood immediately that Victoria hadn't told Chris anything about Stitch being an alien. As the girls snickered, the blue experiment couldn't help but cross his arms proudly at being called Lilo's date, despite the fact that he and Lilo had agreed that this was a not-a-date thing. He had forgotten of that by then. It felt… good.

Suddenly, the lights went feeble and the music started to sound louder than it did before, signaling that the dance was about to start. Several boys separated from their former groups and approached their girls, readying themselves for the dance. The first tune was an upbeat one, the kind of dance that takes a lot of rapidness and agility to dance. Stitch smiled at this and took Lilo's hand, leading her to a place where they could move with no problem. Seeing that they didn't really have to be close to dance this tune, they could let pass by the fact that the alien was shorter than the girl.

Both friends were ecstatic; they were having a lot of fun, even though neither of them knew very well how to dance with so many people around them. Stitch bumped into someone at least five times while they were dancing, earning a laugh from Lilo that would compensate any shame coming from an angry teen that had been just bumped into.

The music kept its rapid rhythm for a few minutes more and then it suddenly turned into a slower tune. Both Lilo and Stitch stopped, knowing that this was the kind of dance that should be danced with two persons really close to each other. Neither of them knew what to do for a moment, and right before Stitch decided it was time to take Lilo's hand again, Chris interrupted them.

"Hey Lilo. Victoria says it might be a good idea if we switch couples for this dance. What do you say?"

"Uh, well… okay?" Lilo replied hesitantly.

Stitch's jaw almost dropped out of surprise, but then he felt his blood starting to boil when he saw Chris taking Lilo by the waist and dancing so close to her. Well, maybe not THAT close, but it still was closer than what he would have liked. His hesitance had cost him that one dance with Lilo. He was about to interrupt the dance for Chris, but then he felt someone grabbing him by the arm.

"Sheesh Stitch! It's just one dance! Lilo will be right back with you, so why are you so mad at Chris?" Victoria laughed as she pulled Stitch up to hold him in her arms, making it seem like she was hugging him. Stitch groaned and gave Lilo an imploring look, which made her smile at him amused from Chris' shoulder.

"So… do you like Stitch?" Chris asked once more. This made Lilo pull back and look at him with a look of confusion.

"What do you mean?"

The boy chuckled. "Well, it's already kind of obvious, really… after you get to know he's not a dog, everything falls into place."

"How did you-"

"Vicky told me everything a few minutes ago while we were dancing. Mad at me for knowing it or asking?"

Lilo shook her head, still processing that information in her head. "No, no… it's just that it took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting that."

"And so? Do you like him?" Chris returned to his former question. Lilo hid her face on his shoulder, feeling her blood creeping to her cheeks.

"Well, actually… I think I do."

"Yeah, I guessed so. I think he likes you back."

"Oh… How can you know that?"

"The way he stares at you, the way he holds you, how he's so protective of you… everything makes it obvious when you pay attention. Like how he's looking at you right now."

Lilo immediately lifted her head to look at Stitch, taking advantage of the turn she and Chris had just taken. She giggled. "Well, right now I can see he's looking at you, and he does _not _seem happy."

Chris mocked a scared face. "Oh, no! So I guess I better run after this dance is over." He laughed after he said that.

"And what do you think about this? Do you think I'm a freak for liking an alien or something?" Lilo asked, a hint of fear being heard on her voice. Chris pulled back slightly to look at her in the eyes.

"Well, I must admit it's kind of weird." Then Lilo lowered her gaze. "However… Stitch is not an animal. He can think and feel, just like any of us, so it shouldn't be wrong. It's just different. Besides, what would be the big deal? You girls are practically a whole new species to us boys, and I think it's the same viceversa, so really, where's the problem?"

Lilo lifted her gaze once more and looked at Chris thankfully. "I'm glad you understood and put it that way. It makes me feel better."

"Anything for you, Lilo." He replied. Lilo hugged him, realizing that the music had already stopped.

She let go of Chris so he would go back with Victoria. Both girls smiled to each other, Victoria knowing what she and her boyfriend had been talking about. She wasn't freaked out by Lilo's feelings for Stitch; in fact, she had been the one to make Chris understand by telling him all what he had told Lilo afterwards. Both girls gave each other one last complicity look before going back to their boys.

"Want to go for some more punch? I'm kind of thirsty." Lilo suggested her blue companion, who nodded eagerly.

"Ih!"

Unfortunately, disaster couldn't leave alone the pair for at least that day. Stitch had jumped onto the table where the punch bowl was, but he fell onto the tray beneath the bowl, turning it into a catapult that sent the bowl flying. A muscular teen in the other side of the table had been flirting with some of the cheerleaders, bloating of his latest achievements in the football field, when a bowl full of punch fell right on his head, staining his perfectly white tuxedo. He turned around, ready to blow his fist into the face of the idiot that had dared to play that joke on him. Then he saw him, smiling at him innocently as he poured a glass of soda for himself.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You were lucky to have Thad thinking that this poor boy threw at him the punch bowl. You gotta be more careful." Lilo commented, remembering the poor nerdy boy that had received a fist on his face from the football player.

"Stitch sorry!" The little alien mumbled for the hundredth time that night. Lilo sighed.

"However… I'm glad you didn't get that hit. I don't know what I would have done if he had known you threw that bowl."

"Stitch strong! Stitch kick his patookie!" Stitch said angrily, feeling proud of his courage and strength. Lilo giggled.

"That's exactly why I don't know what I would have done: there was no way I could get you off that poor, defenseless football player."

"Aww…" Stitch groaned and punched Lilo softly on her arm in a playful manner. She laughed and returned the punch as well, and then both of them looked up at the velvet black sky.

The dance had been truly a disaster. That fight started a food battle that went on for quite a long time, and Lilo had decided to take Stitch out of there before anyone denounced him. The two friends had escaped to the beach, not wanting to go back home yet. When Nani sent Lilo a message asking her if everything was alright, Lilo had responded that she was fine and still dancing.

Some slow music could be heard in the distance as well, and with the prevailing silence it was almost impossible not to hear it. It seemed that the music came from a group of persons with a radio, having a party on the beach with a fire that was situated a few yards away from them. Right now, the song "Kiss Me" drifted on the air, interpreted by Avril Lavigne. That was a pretty old song, considering that the singer sang it when Lilo was about eleven years old… about six years ago from now.

However, the slow old tune made both friends get cozier with each other. By the time the song had ended, Lilo got up and pulled Stitch up as well.

"Huh?" Stitch mumbled confused. Lilo beamed at him with a beautiful smile.

"Let's dance with the next song. You owe me a dance, don't you?"

As Victoria had done before, Lilo pulled Stitch up to hold him in her arms. Stitch's eyes widened for a moment, not knowing what was going on, but he held her almost immediately to him. His breath started to slow down, feeling how even time slowed down once he held the girl he loved in his arms.

_Angel, with those angel eyes  
Come and take this earth boy  
Up to paradise_

_Angel, may I hold you tight?  
Never kissed an angel  
Let me kiss one tonight…_

For some odd reason, Lilo thought that this song fitted them perfectly. An angel… that was what Stitch was. He was her angel, protecting her and watching over her. His arms locked securely around her neck, giving her the sensation of being protected and over all, loved by him…

_If I said 'I love you'  
Would I be speaking out of turn?  
I'm only human, but I'm willing to learn_

_Angel, make my wish come true  
Let me be in heaven here on earth with you_

_Angel, never kissed an angel  
Let me kiss one tonight…_

The idea seemed cliché and unoriginal, but it was true, and he couldn't find a better way to describe it. Lilo did indeed look like an angel tonight: the moon shining brightly on her soft black hair, and her beautiful white dress flowing from her even more beautiful persona… how could he not think she was his angel?

_If I said 'I love you'  
Would I be speaking out of turn?  
I'm only human, but I'm willing to learn_

_Angel, make my wish come true  
Let me be in heaven here on earth with you_

_Angel, Angel…"_

The King's voice faded away, all too soon for their liking. The music had lasted for too little. Lilo let Stitch down slowly and sat down on the white sand again.

"Uhh… thank you, Stitch." She said softly, not being able to look at her friend as she talked. Instead, she fixed her gaze on a little shiny pebble beside her.

"Ih… no problem." Stitch replied, sitting down beside her once more. The magic spell they both had been under was quickly dissipating, and if he didn't do something right now, it would be gone again for who knows how long. He had to make a choice quickly, and he didn't want his hesitance to cost him more than he wanted, like it did back at Lilo's school.

"Lilo…" He called the girl with determination, though still feeling nervous for what he was about to do.

She lifted her head sheepishly, locking eyes with him. "What is-? Mmgh!"

She was totally taken aback when Stitch placed his mouth over hers, maybe too abruptly. Yet, his action wasn't rejected at all. She didn't know what was happening for the first two seconds, and by the two following seconds she thought it was a dream or a delusion. However, by the way her heart had suddenly jumped and sent a rush of blood all over her body she knew it couldn't be just a dream…

_So this… this is real? Is it REALLY happening?_

…_Yes. It's happening._

_I SO owe Chris free lunch at the school cafeteria for one month.  
_

When it had finally downed on her, she could finally respond. Her hands took Stitch's soft face in them, caressing his cheeks gently as she pulled his face closer. Meanwhile, Stitch's arms had already made their way around Lilo's back, pulling her close as well. Even he was surprised by his quick move, not knowing quite well why he had done it. He didn't regret it, though; in fact, he was enjoying every second of it. No, enjoying wasn't the word… he was_ loving _every moment of it.

_Now Stitchie… what are you going to tell her when you pull away?_ A random thought crossed his mind. He hadn't even thought of that yet, but the reply seemed to be pretty simple: as soon as they let go, he'd tell her all what he had hidden from her for so long. He'd tell her just how smart and skillful she had been to capture his heart, and how now he couldn't let go of her. But at least by now, he could tell her with acts, so he kept on kissing her.

Suddenly, another wave of pain washed over his brain. His head ached terribly, but he didn't let go of the girl, expecting the pain to go away as quickly as it had done before. But it didn't go. It was taking more and more memories of his with it, and it wouldn't stop. That was when he groaned, feeling the pain grow stronger within his head.

Another last wave of pain.

Now Lilo was totally gone of his memories.

* * *

**Drums please...**

**DUN, DUNN, DUNNN, DUNNNNNNNNNNNNN...! **

**Oh no! What will happen now? Stay tuned and please, don't forget: R&R!  
**


	17. Lost

Hey! I'm back! You can throw at me a tomato or something for making you all wait so long... OMG, I think the last time I updated was last year... right? I'M EVIL. I KNOW.

However... thank you all guys who kept on reviewing and encouraging me. I don't have much time right now to thank you nall individually, but this chapter is for you. As I said, I'm sorry that I took so long, but now I'm finally happy with this chapter, and I hope you will be too.

Thank you a lot, guys! Read and review, please!

* * *

**If I never met you**

_Chapter 17_

_Lost_

**11:20 pm**

"Man, could this get any more boring?" The remote control was finally taken from the coffee table.

Maybe to many women, Oprah is a genius of entertainment, but at least to Kale, she was B-O-RI-N-G. Really, if you were watching a re-play of her program at this hour, it could only mean you had nothing better to bother yourself with.

Or maybe it could mean you were waiting for your teenage daughter and her blue alien companion to come home. Her blue alien _boy_ companion.

Lani and Nani had already gone to their beds, defeated by tiredness and knowing that these guys were only having some fun. Nani wasn't all that worried now about Lilo being out after it got dark. She wasn't a ten-year-old girl out in the dark, at the mercy of any havoc-maker experiment. Besides, she was with Stitch. She knew that he'd never ever let anything bad happen to Lilo, and she trusted him. She only thought he would simply scare away those stupid boys, and that was okay too. No worries here.

Lani had seen this coming since a lot of time ago, and somehow, she had managed to simply let go of it. She knew her little girl had to grow up and start doing those things that will eventually lead her to being a mature woman living happily with someone who loved her. And to her, it seemed that Stitch would be that someone. She didn't really mind.

…Though maybe the only thing which made her a bit nervous was the fact that she didn't know what her grandchildren would look like. Yikes.

Other than that, no worries here either.

So Kale had been the only one to remain awake. The man was seriously thinking of grounding Lilo and her 'friend' for being home after the deadline. He didn't like to be that kind of father who suddenly becomes all authoritarian and send their daughters to their room and won't leave them go out of the house for the rest of their lives, but… well, please, come on! He had been pretty clear when he said '11:00 o'clock. No more', right?

"Oh geez…" He slapped his forehead with his hand. "You better have a good excuse for this. By you I mean _you_, Stitch." He talked to no one in particular as his eyes went up to the clock hanging from the wall. The minutes were going too fast for his liking, making it be later and later…

After the zillionth time of looking at the clock, the doorknob finally clicked with the sound of a key entering the keyhole.

He straightened up on the sofa and held back his breath, studying mentally the speech he had ready.

Lilo came in.

"Oh, hey Lilo… Where's Stitch?"

The absence of the little blue alien was pretty noticeable. And the shaken expression on Lilo's face was pretty noticeable too once Kale let his eyes scan over his daughter.

The next thing he knew was that he had Lilo in his arms, clinging to him for support. Then he felt her body shaking in his embrace (…maybe it was cold out there?).

Then he heard her sobs. At first it was so faint he thought he might have imagined it all, but then it came stronger. She was crying. His baby was crying.

"Lilo, honey…? What's wrong, babe? What's wrong?" He asked alarmed, though his fingers kept running tenderly over his daughter's hair.

"S-Stitch…" Lilo could say before another wave of sobs came over her.

Kale's fingers turned momentarily into claws. For some reason, he didn't like the sound of that.

"What's wrong with him?" He asked slowly.

"He… well… I-I don't even know. He went… nuts… I need to call Jumba." Lilo replied quietly, her sobs making her voice tremble. She pushed her dad away softly and then she made her way to Pleakley's room. The only intergalactic communicator in the house was there.

Kale simply followed her, not knowing if he could do anything helpful at all. This all was too weird for his liking.

* * *

**00:15 am**

"…I'm sorry Miss Pelekai, but Dr. Jookiba is very busy at this time giving a lecture."

"But this is important too!"

"As I was saying, I'm very sorry, Miss Pelekai. There is nothing I can do about it. Call him tomorrow, please."

"But-!"

"Goodnight, Miss Pelekai."

Before Lilo could say anything else, the communication was cut. The screen of the little communicator had already turned to a dull gray color.

She let out a sigh of frustration.

These stupid bureaucrats sure knew how to be rude without even saying rude words. She hadn't even allowed her to explain anything at all! Sheesh! And besides… when was it "tomorrow" in planet Turo? She thought she remembered something Jumba said about Turo having days of 38 hours or something like that, but she didn't remember very well at the moment. Ah well, she could ask Pleakley later on.

Oh, and another detail… could she be possibly referring to an Earthling tomorrow?

Another sigh of frustration followed.

A little ad appeared shortly after, signaling a new message coming from 'mom'.

'_When are YOU going to call, WENDY??'_

_My gosh._

She grabbed the nearest pillow and screamed into it, trying to let out all of those horrid sentiments boiling up inside her. She let go and waited. Nope, some of that had still stayed inside. She screamed again into the pillow, this time letting the communicator fall onto Pleakley's bed.

"Hey Lilo… well… what did they tell you?" Pleakley came into the room. Nani, Lani and himself had tried to get some information out of Kale, but it was to no good at all, because he simply had no idea of what was going on.

Lilo looked up at him, her eyes watery. "They politely told me to shut up and call tomorrow."

"Ugh, that's pretty bad too."

"Why?"

"That means they politely asked you not to call again."

The poor pillow now received a punch, as if it wasn't enough already.

"God, how mean and rude of them-!" She brought the pillow again to her red face, turning all of her ramblings into mumbles. Pleakley only stared at her, giving the girl a sympathetic look.

"Ah, well, don't worry Lilo… I'm pretty sure everything will be okey-dokey! We'll be talking to good ol' Jumba in no time at all!" He patted her back in a comforting gesture. Lilo lifted her face from the pillow once again and looked at him.

"Well, anyways… thanks for letting me use your communicator, Pleakley. And for everything else. I'm going to bed right now." She said, getting up from his bed and walking hunched.

"Oh, of course. You must be exhausted. Good night, then." Pleakley replied, rubbing his left arm in a gesture of awkwardness as he watched the girl go out.

Outside, Nani was the first one to receive her.

"Lilo, honey, please tell me what's going on. Are you okay? Can I help you with something?"

"Hey baby… what happened? Could you find the mad scientist guy?" Kale came afterwards.

Lani came close too, holding Lilo to her. "Oh, Lilo… my little girl…"

"I couldn't find Jumba. We can't do anything at all right now. I'm going to my room, okay?" Lilo replied to all of them, pushing her mom away softly and climbing onto the platform of the lift. Seven eyes (three human pairs and Pleakley's only eye) followed the teen until the walls left her out of sight.

"So… did she tell you what happened?" Nani asked to the only remaining alien in the house. Lani and Kale listened carefully.

"No. But it's pretty obvious she's shattered. Whatever happened out there with the little monster, it must have been traumatizing." Pleakley replied, not really aware of what he had called Stitch. He was so used to it by now that he didn't actually notice. It made Lani and Kale flinch, though.

'_BEEEEEP!' _A loud sound took them all out of their own thoughts. It had come from Pleakley's room.

"For Plorg's sake, I just called her two hours ago! Does she want to drive me CRAZY?" The walking noodle complained. He went quickly into his room, mumbling a quick goodnight on the way.

"If that woman doesn't stop calling at nights, she'll drive ME crazy too." Nani mused. With that, she followed Pleakley into the room to get some sleep too, a frown of worry marking her pretty face.

Kale and Lani remained alone in the corridor, giving each other meaningful glances.

* * *

**00:30 am**

Lilo had barely had the strength to change her pretty white dress for her aqua nightgown.

Right now, all she wanted to do was getting some sleep and shutting off her thoughts.

She would have liked to wash her face too, to get rid of all tear streaks on her cheeks, but she simply felt too depressed and defeated to do that. _Well, it doesn't matter, surely. There will be more anyway_.

She dropped on her bed, looking exhausted and heartbroken. She crawled slowly to the upper part of her bed, where she took off the blankets and then used them to cover her body.

She let out a soft gasp of surprise when she turned and suddenly saw her mom standing in her room. She hid her face under her covers, whining. Her mind had been so far away at the moment that she didn't even realize when the lift had whirred, indicating somebody was coming up to see her.

The other woman bit her lip, worried. She sure hadn't liked that zombie look in her daughter's eyes.

"Lilo, babe, you got me worried." She started. She sat on the edge of the bed and put a loving hand on the figure of Lilo's head. "And I can't help it! No mother likes to see their daughter so sad and crestfallen like you look right now. Is there anything I could do to help you?"

"Not really…" Lilo replied, her voice muffled by the blanket. Lani sighed.

"Feel like talking about anything at all?"

Lilo shook her head under the blanket. Lani nodded.

"How close to you is Stitch?"

That took Lilo by surprise.

Now, Lani already had an idea of how close Lilo and Stitch were to each other, but for some reason, she wanted Lilo to say it. However, Lilo remained silent.

The older woman rolled her eyes, lifted the blanket and hid under it too, finding her daughter in the process. "I know it's pretty comfortable in here, but could we both please go out only for a few moments? This is very important, honey."

With a sigh of resignation, Lilo obeyed. Both women went out, but one of them kept looking at the ground. Lani lifted the girl's chin as if to make her look into her eyes.

"So?"

Lilo sighed once more.

"He's pretty close."

_[…She was totally taken aback when Stitch placed his mouth over hers, maybe too abruptly…]_

"Only 'pretty close'?" Lani inquired with her eyebrows lifted, as if saying 'I don't believe you' with her eyes. It made Lilo feel a bit uncomfortable. She still shook her head.

"Well… maybe a bit more."

"Like a very close _friend_?"

_[…_ _When it had finally downed on her, she could finally respond. Her hands took Stitch's soft face in them, caressing his cheeks gently as she pulled his face closer…]_

Again, Lilo shook her head. Lani couldn't suppress a smile from forming on her lips.

"Mom, do we really have to talk about this right NOW?" Lilo asked in a whine.

"I think we do, sweetheart. It would clear up a lot of things."

"Aren't they already pretty clear to you? I mean, you always were so perceptive and you had such good guesses…" She said in a murmur, keeping her eyes on the floor.

"I never said they would be clear for _me_."

Lilo still remained silent. Lani sighed.

"Lilo, look, I want you to know that I don't mind about you and Stitch going out so often on not-a-date uhh… dates, and go watch movies together and dance all night long at some school prom. Actually, it's kind of amusing and cute… and yeah… I just wanted you to know that. You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Lilo's gaze didn't go up. She really did not want to talk about this… not right now. But maybe she should… maybe it would be to some kind of help…

_[…And that had been when everything suddenly went other way...]_

"No mom, please not right now. I'm really exhausted. Could we leave this for tomorrow? I need some time alone." She declined in the last moment.

"Oh, well… that's okay too. I understand that." The woman smiled awkwardly and looked aside for a moment. "Goodnight honey." She bent down and kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"Night, mom."

"I just want you to remember something… the world's not going to end right now. Remember that you've got us, and that you can trust your Ohana, okay? Everything will turn out for the best, no matter what it is in the end."

Lilo nodded slowly; she simply watched as her mom disappeared into the lift tube. As soon as she was out of view, she let herself fall onto her bed, hiding her face with her pillow and shutting her eyes. She kind of wished she could shut her thoughts too.

_It was kind of blurry to her, but she knew she had suddenly felt Stitch going stiff like a rock. She had just realized that something wasn't going right when he pulled her away abruptly… though pushing away was more like it._

"What's going on?" She talked into her pillow.

"_Stitch? Are you okay? What's going on?" She asked alarmed. Stitch had suddenly clutched his head like he used to do when his glitch took over him. His groans were those of confusion and pain._

Stitch, her best friend, was in pain. She felt a knot forming in her stomach, making her worry grow stronger.

* * *

**28:45 pm, Planet Turo – Hotel Kjark**

"_Good evening, Dr. Jookiba. Please take your key from the delivering slot_." A computerized voice saluted dully. Jumba took his finger off from the recognition sensor and received something like a little credit card, which was the 'key' to his room. Smiling widely, he then walked into the lift tube that would take him to his floor.

Today had been a pretty good day, talking about the kind of stuff that geniuses usually talk about and showing his discoveries of Earth genetics to those enthusiasts of the planet (geez, come on, what could be so interesting about Earth? It was like a fever!). However, he was pretty happy to be back in the hotel, with a huge, comfy couch waiting for him inside his room.

He checked the card in front of the reader, right outside his room. After the reader set the green light, he could finally come in and drop his stuff in some corner of the room.

Everything inside was a complete mess (just a mess, not an unclean mess), but he didn't really mind. It was nice, actually… not having Pleakley around to clean up everything he did and unmake his perfect disorder, where he knew the place he had given to everything he had. It was a good thing that the little service robot they had given him could be given the order of not touching anything of his, something that the walking noodle never seemed to understand.

Still, it kind of felt lonely here.

He dropped onto the huge couch of his little living room, getting ready to watch some TV (or its equivalent on Turo). A little robot came out of nowhere and stopped beside him.

"Good evening, Dr. Jookiba. Can I service you in anything?"

"Ah, yes, of course. Be bringing here dinner. I am wishing for an Earthling pizza and a cold hadukken, please."

The robot didn't say anything else and just went off to get his dinner.

He sighed. Yep, it just wasn't the same. He missed hearing Bigger Girl's shouts of anger at seeing 626 about to throw a food battle against Little Girl or the Walking Noodle. He chuckled. Yes yes yes, those were fun times with his Ohana that he missed. Funny thing how he had been here only for a few days and now he already missed these persons who were not even blood relatives to him.

That gave him something to think about for a while. Hmm, yes… it was really interesting to him. When his wife became his ex-wife, he had never really felt so lonely. The feeling he had got was something more like freedom, happiness, and the impression that now he could eat up the whole universe.

However, since he had come to Earth and adopted it as his home, strange things began happening to him. Now the Reformed Evil Genius found himself missing everyone down there. Hah, even Pleakley and his blabber. He had to admit, Pleakley was the closest he had ever gotten to a best friend, and no matter how many times they had quarrels and fought over stupid stuff, right now he had no one to fight with or show his inventions to… except for those persons who were part of the Galactic Scientific Alliance. And that wasn't that exciting at all.

"Your dinner is ready, Dr. Jookiba. You have twelve new voice messages in your mailbox." The robot had delayed no time at all to come back, taking him out of his thoughts. He waved his hand in a carefree gesture, taking a sip of his purple, thick drink.

"Leave it alone, little one. I will check them later. Retire now."

He sighed and passed a hand over his only three hairs. He kind of wondered if his Ohana would miss him too. He wondered how everything around there was; he knew he could have called, but he simply never had the time to do so… until now.

The videophone was just a few meters away from him. Why not?

He had been about to take the videophone and call his Ohana, but then he remembered that days were different in Earth. He briefly looked at the clock in the wall and sighed. Making a quick calculus, he realized that at least in Hawaii, it must be almost 1:00 am, and none would be awake to take the call.

"Ah well… it can wait, then. It is not like a big catastrophe is even around." He chuckled. "Dr. Hämsterviel hasn't escaped jail lately, and all experiments are good-doers now. What could go so wrong, besides an old, homesick Evil Genius?"

He dropped back into the couch. Maybe he'd call tomorrow.

* * *

**00:58 am, Earth – Mr and Mrs Pelekai's bedroom**

"Kale…"

"Hmm?" The man asked, sliding his feet out of his sandals. Lani was sitting on their bed, already under the blankets, looking down at her fidgeting hands.

"I'm worried, honey."

Kale sighed. "Yeah, she got me worried too. But there's nothing we could do. The evil scientist guy isn't available, and whether we like it or not, we'll have to wait until things get better to do anything at all."

"I guess you're right. But still, that doesn't make me feel better."

"Same with me." He slid into the blankets. Lani welcomed him by circling her arms around her husband, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck. His arm went around her shoulders, his thumb massaging her in a comforting manner.

"We should get to sleep right now. Or at least try to. Tomorrow we'll have plenty of stuff to get done with." The man said wisely. Lani nodded.

The lights went off, and they accommodated themselves into their bed. Both adults closed their eyes, but still, they weren't able to get any sleep.

"Ni?"

"Hmm?"

"I can't sleep."

"Me neither. Want some warm milk? I could go get some."

"I'll get it. You just try to relax, okay Ni?"

She nodded once more. He opened the wooden door gently, trying to do as little noise as possible. Lani could hear from their room the noise of cups and glasses clinking, and then the microwave as it heated up their milk. In no time at all, her husband was back into the room with their glasses. He handed one to Lani and kept his hands around his own. None of them seemed to have any intentions on even giving a sip to their milks.

"So, are you gonna drink that?" Kale asked his wife in a playful manner, pointing at her glass of milk. As in cue, she gave it a small sip and smiled at him.

"There. Happy now?"

He chuckled. "Yeah."

He gulped down half of his glass, and then wiped off the remaining milk of his mouth.

"You know something? I really think that what Lilo got is way more serious than what we had thought at first." Kale began saying, his eyes fixed on the half-empty glass.

"What do you mean?" Lani tilted her head to one side, looking at her husband in a funny manner.

He sighed. "I think that whatever thing she has for Stitch… well, it must be something bigger than just a crush."

"I know. I've noticed." She looked down at her glass of milk too. "And it does make sense after all. They've been best friends for such a long time, being there for each other when they most needed it… it's not something that one could say must have happened sooner or later, but it is indeed something that was more than likely to happen."

"Yes, I know that. And so… I've been thinking something else too…" He trailed off.

"Yes?" She asked gently.

"If it is possible that Lilo does actually love-love Stitch, well… whatever's happening to him, it's affecting her a lot."

"Uh, yes? I noticed that too." Lani said. "So? What's the point?"

"My point is…" He sighed once more, scratching the back of his head. "This'll sound stupid, y'know…"

"What?"

"Would you be able to let go of Lilo and this new family of ours if necessary? I mean, for what she's told us, if he doesn't remember her now and we're here after supposedly being dead… I'm no Evil Genius, but that sounds like time-traveling issues. Remember the first movie of 'Back to the Future', when Marty McFly began disappearing from the picture?"

"Kale…"

"I know, I told you this sounded crazy. But it actually makes sense! What if we had to go so everything would go back to normal for our daughters and this new Ohana? What if that way Stitch would be fine again and give him his chance with Lilo? Would you be willing to do that?"

Silence followed. After a few moments, he heard her glass of milk being put aside, on the night table. She lied back down on the bed.

"I would. No doubt there. I just wish we could stay to see our daughters fully grow up."

Kale seemed to think thoroughly about this, then just shrugged and lied down beside his wife.

"I'd like that too. You know, I actually kinda like Stitch."

The man heard his wife stifle back a laugh. It made him smile. Well, that was the truth. He liked Stitch, but he had to make sure he'd be the right guy for his little girl, just like what he had been doing with Nani and David so many years ago before they passed away.

"Well, goodnight Ni."

"Goodnight."

Silence came once more into the house, but several thoughts were making their way through Lani's head, whispering things she already knew. She had actually kind of sensed before that their presence there had something to do with Stitch going crazy. Kale had put it into a more convincing way, making it sound logical, while all she had was just a gut feeling. Girls stuff, you know.

Well, maybe her gut feeling had proven to be right. And right now, it was telling her that once more, her wish wouldn't come true.

But this time, maybe it would be her own will to let go of that wish, if only that helped Lilo to be happy once more. She had learned how to move on without them before and proved to be strong; she surely could do that again.

* * *

**00:30 am - Somewhere in the tropical forest of Kauai**

"_Stitch? Stitch! What's wrong, bud? Are you okay?" She cried. She came close to him, who had stepped back when he pushed her away._

_Right in that moment, the groans had stopped, and he had opened his eyes slowly. He blinked a couple of times, adjusting his vision, and then fixed his stare on her._

_Lilo had heard her friend growl a lot of times before, and she had never really been afraid of it. That usually meant he was protecting her or simply saying he didn't like something, and sometimes it even meant he felt playful. _

_But these growls were different. They were menacing, and they were directed to her. It was scary._

"_Ka genaa te!" He demanded to know. _

"_What do you mean? It's me! What's wrong with you?" Lilo had replied, feeling teased… or at least trying to._

_It was true that Stitch sometimes liked to scare Lilo, like all best friends do sometimes, but right now, Lilo couldn't think up of a logical reason for Stitch to go crazy. She'd rather think that it was a playful growl than a threatening one._

_However, he growled once more in a scarier way._

"_Okay, you got me. I'm scared, Stitch. Really. Could we stop playing this? It isn't funny!"_

_He stared at her in a funny, still creepy way. "Stitch?"_

_Oh gosh, he just HAD to be joking…_

_He had pronounced it as if it were foreign to him. As if he had never even heard it, or known that was his name._

Stitch wandered aimlessly through the Hawaiian forest. Ferns and palm trees went by as he walked slowly, trying to know what was going on. The sound of waves licking softly the sand of the beach came to him as a murmur, as if wanting to make him recall what it had just witnessed just one hour ago.

And actually, for a few moments, he suddenly remembered Lilo, the dance and the events of the beach. His eyes widened up as the memories struck his head.

"_It's me. It's Lilo. Do you…" She felt stupid asking this. "…know me?"_

_He stared at her blankly, coldly. _

_She could have taken that as a no._

"Lilo!" He cried out. Then he dashed to the Pelekai household, wanting to apologize and try to explain that he had no idea of whatever was going on with him.

But suddenly, he simply forgot what he was going to do. It was becoming frustrating; he never even got to the midway.

And that was when he began wandering aimlessly again. He couldn't remember anything at the moment. No Lilo, no dance and no beach.

He felt frustrated and angry, though. Despite the fact that he wasn't fully aware of what was going on, he knew something important was escaping his grasp, but he never could put his finger on it, and it made him feel even angrier.

This same scene repeated over and over again. He'd remember Lilo and then try to run home, and then just suddenly he forgot again and started wandering in the forest once more.

Sometimes he would growl. Sometimes he would let out a whine.

Once more lost. As if he had been home before, but now he didn't know the way back. He could feel it.

"I'm lost."


End file.
